Meta stops all political, electoral, and issue-based ads across EU platforms beginning October under new EU transparency rules.
Meta announced on Friday that it will cease the sale and display of political advertisements in the European Union beginning in October in anticipation of the European Union’s forthcoming regulation of political advertising.
In a blog post, the tech giant referred to the legislation’s requirements as “unworkable.” The TTPA, or Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising, introduces “significant, additional obligations to our processes and systems that create an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU.”
In 2024, the European Commission implemented the TTPA, which requires companies that sell advertisements to plainly label political advertisements and provide information about their sponsor, the election or referendum they pertain to, the cost of the ad, and the targeting mechanisms employed.
The law also mandates that data collected to serve political ads must only be used if the individual or entity consents to its use in political advertising.
Additionally, it prohibits using certain types of personal data, such as information that could disclose an individual’s racial or ethnic origin or political opinions, for data profiling.
Meta wrote, “Once more, we are witnessing the effective removal of popular products and services from the market due to regulatory obligations, thereby diminishing competition and choice.”
Google, another advertising behemoth that also announced that it would cease selling political advertisements in the EU by October, made comparable arguments, contending that the law introduces substantial operational challenges and legal uncertainty.
This is the most recent in a series of disputes between the European Union and Big Tech, as the bloc endeavors to limit the influence and power of these platforms.
The EU’s AI Act, its enforcement of competition rules, ad-tracking regulation, and other regulations have been controversial among technology companies.
