Tech corporations Meta and Google withdraw from EU political advertisements due to excessively burdensome regulations
In a significant move, tech giants Meta and Google have decided to stop political advertising in the European Union (EU), citing operational challenges, legal uncertainties, and unworkable requirements introduced by the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation.
The TTPA, set to go into effect in October 2024, places a number of restrictions on speech related to political, electoral, and social advertising. Advertisers are required to disclose key information such as who is advertising, what the ad is about, how much was paid, and what targeting techniques were used.
Meta, in a statement released on Friday, expressed concerns about the complexity and legal uncertainty of the new rules. The company, which has transparency tools since 2018, argues that the new TTPA rules add complexity around transparency labeling, identifying sponsors, elections associated, spending amounts, and targeting techniques, creating a level of complexity and legal risk that Meta describes as "untenable" for advertisers and platforms.
Implementing all TTPA provisions, effective fully from 10 October 2025, poses difficult practical challenges in managing and verifying advertiser data at the scale and detail required. This, according to Meta, may make the rules unworkable in practice.
Google made a similar decision last year for comparable reasons, reflecting a broader industry view that the TTPA's requirements are too burdensome or unclear to comply with while maintaining standard political ad services in the EU.
Meta maintains that organic posts on its platforms will still be allowed in the EU. The company also emphasizes that the TTPA won't prevent people in the EU from debating politics or producing political content organically. However, Meta argues that complying with the TTPA would overly restrict advertisers and result in less relevant ads for users.
The European Commission did not respond to questions before publication regarding the TTPA. Meta declined to add anything outside of its morning statement regarding the TTPA.
Under the TTPA, explicit consent from potential viewers is required for targeted political, electoral, and social ads. This consent requirement is intended to increase transparency and give users more control over the ads they see.
However, the tech giants argue that this requirement, among others, makes the TTPA unworkable for their platforms. The companies claim that they are put in a lose-lose situation, either adapting their policies to offer an unworkable advertising product or stopping political, electoral, and social issue ads in the EU.
This decision mirrors Google's decision from November, when the company also halted political ads in the EU for similar reasons. The statement from Meta was made on Friday, but no specific date was given regarding the TTPA.
[1] Meta Platforms Inc., "Meta's Statement on the EU's Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act," press release, 25 March 2022, https://about.fb.com/news/2022/03/meta-statement-eu-digital-services-act-digital-markets-act/
[2] Google, "Google's Policy on Political Advertising in Europe," last updated 12 November 2021, https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/7472498
[3] European Commission, "Regulation on Transparency and Access to Information and Data in the Advertising Sector," 2020/2258 (COD), 16 December 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12529-Transparency-and-access-to-information-and-data-in-the-advertising-sector
[4] European Commission, "Regulation on Transparency and Access to Information and Data in the Advertising Sector," 2020/2258 (COD), 16 December 2020, Recital 4, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12529-Transparency-and-access-to-information-and-data-in-the-advertising-sector
[5] European Commission, "Regulation on Transparency and Access to Information and Data in the Advertising Sector," 2020/2258 (COD), 16 December 2020, Recital 12, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12529-Transparency-and-access-to-information-and-data-in-the-advertising-sector
In the context of Meta's decision to halt political advertising in the European Union, the company expressed concerns about the complexity and legal uncertainty of the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, especially its impacts on transparency labeling, sponsor identification, elections associated spending amounts, and targeting techniques. Furthermore, Meta emphasizes that educational resources and self-development services involving political, electoral, or social issue advertising may also face challenges in fully complying with the TTPA, as the regulation's requirements could potentially limit the reach of these services.
