Context: This is within one week of an election. It's a bit clearer in that context. If it says "vote for X" or "X is a horrible person/candidate/waste of matter", then it's political. Ditto if it says that about ballot initiative Y.

Within this context, if it says "the federal reserve eats frozen puppies", it's likely not political. Ditto if it says "embargo country X for reason Y".

It can still be grey. If candidate X runs on position Y, and an ad is about position Y without ever mentioning candidate X, it's probably still political.

But all in all, it's about the election, not politics in general, and so it's a lot more clear. Not perfectly clear, no, but it's more clear than politics in general.

I think "Does it mention or show a politian or political party?" is a reasonable first pass, with room to add additional restrictions as people find loopholes.

I'm not sure this answers the question because it fails to define what "political" means.

In this narrow definition, a politician is a person holding or running for elected office, and a political party is a specifically registered organization that is formed with the express intent of organizing voters and politicians, such that the voters vote for the politicians. There's a list on Wikipedia [1].

Of course, this narrow definition leaves out a lot of political issue ads that don't mention candidates or political parties by name, but are still very much political. Things like "support / oppose access to guns / abortion / health care / immigration / education / clean water / fair elections / military service / communication / electricity / there's a lot of other stuff" are quite often political ads without necessarily being tied to any particular candidate or party.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_t...

"Go to youtube and watch <influencer> NOW, your way of life depends on this upcoming vote!"

<influencer> on youtube: ...vote <politician>!