Meta will cease political ads in European Union by fall, blaming bloc’s new rules

LONDON AP Facebook and Instagram owner Meta explained Friday that it will stop all political advertising in the European Union by October blaming legal uncertainty over new rules designed to increase transparency in electoral process campaigns The social media giant declared in a blog post that it will no longer allow ads for political electoral and social issues on its platforms which also include Threads starting in early October The company commented it was making the decision because of the -nation EU s unworkable Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulations The rules introduce notable operational challenges and legal uncertainties Meta explained It s not the first Big Tech company to make such a move Google explained last year that it would stop serving EU users political ads before the rules take effect in an announcement that cited similar reasons Under the regulations which are set to take effect on Oct platforms will have to label political ads disclosing who paid for them and what campaign referendum or legislative process they re connected to Ads will have to be preserved in a database and they can only be targeted to users under strict conditions The rules introduce notable 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 Meta disclosed Violations can be hit with fines worth up to of a company s annual global revenue The rules are part of Brussels wider efforts to counter foreign influence and manipulation in elections and dovetail with the bloc s other regulations designed to protect citizens privacy and hold platforms more accountable for internet users online safety But those moves clash with President Donald Trump s administration which has lashed out at the EU s digital rulemaking Meta mentioned its decision won t affect users who want to debate politics on its platforms or prevent politicians candidates and officer holders from sharing political content organically They just won t be able to amplify this through paid advertising it mentioned Source