In response to the European Union’s incoming regulation of political advertising, Meta said on Friday that it will stop selling and showing political ads in the EU from October.
Calling the legislation’s requirements “unworkable,” the tech giant wrote in a blog post that the law, dubbed Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA), 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.”
Adopted by the European Commission in 2024, the TTPA mandates companies selling ads to clearly label political advertisements; provide information about their sponsor, the election or referendum they concern, what the ad cost, and what targeting mechanisms were used.
The law also requires that data collected to serve political ads must only be used if the person or entity gives their consent to use it for political advertising, and bans the use of some types of personal data, such as information that could reveal a person’s racial or ethnic origin or political opinions, from being used for profiling.
Those requirements seem to be too much for Meta, however, which derives the vast majority of its revenues from advertising. The company said it had consulted with the EU extensively, but came to the conclusion that it would either have to alter its services to offer an ad service that “doesn’t work for advertisers or users,” or stop offering such ads altogether.
“Once again, we’re seeing regulatory obligations effectively remove popular products and services from the market, reducing choice and competition,” Meta wrote.
Google, another advertising giant that also said it would stop selling political ads in the EU by October, raised similar points, arguing that the law brings significant operational challenges and legal uncertainty.
This is the latest of a string of tussles between the EU and Big Tech as the bloc tries to rein in the influence and power of these platforms. Tech companies have been battling the EU’s AI Act, its enforcement of competition rules, ad-tracking regulation, and more.
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