Senator-elect Jacqui Lambie from the Palmer United Party (PUP) faces being barred from Federal Parliament after a possible breach of Tasmania's election advertising rules.

The state's electoral commission is investigating a PUP newspaper advertisement, authorised by Senator Lambie and published in Monday's Mercury newspaper.

It shows photographs of state Liberal leader Will Hodgman, Labor Premier Lara Giddings and Greens leader Nick McKim, branding them the "three amigos".

Mr Hodgman said such photographs were not allowed to be included in advertisements without permission.

"There are laws in place to stop this sort of thing happening," he said.

Breaches of the Electoral Act carry a sentence of up to 12 months, and were Ms Lambie prosecuted and found guilty she would be ineligible to sit in Federal Parliament.

However, the PUP would be able to choose a replacement.

PUP state leader Kevin Morgan has blamed the newspaper.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 38 seconds 4 m 38 s Listen to Felicity Ogilvie's report for PM Download 2.1 MB

"We submit the ad and The Mercury newspaper should be the ones that actually say yes or no to whether it can go in," he said.

Federal leader Clive Palmer also says the ads were sent to the newspaper on the understanding they would be checked by lawyers before being printed.

He says the News Corporation paper told the party to make changes to some of its ads during the federal election campaign so they complied with Commonwealth electoral laws.

In a statement, the Mercury says the ad was booked by its interstate office.

Tasmanian electoral commissioner Julian Type said the investigation would focus on two aspects.

"We'll need to ascertain the person responsible for placing the advertisement, and we'll also need to ascertain whether or not the consent of the three candidates whose images has allegedly been used, was obtained," he said.

The electoral commission said it would take several weeks to complete its investigation.