Meta Suspends Political Ads in Europe Starting October 2025

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram platforms, has announced its decision to permanently stop selling political ads and ads related to political issues within the European Union, starting early October next year.

This decision comes as a result of new regulatory rules that the company finds extremely complex and imposing "an unbearable level of legal complexity and uncertainty".

In an official blog post, Meta confirmed that the new rules related to transparency and targeting political ads, which will come into effect in October, restrict the use of data used to target these ads to individuals, limiting companies' options in the market and reducing competition.

It is worth mentioning that Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, had announced a similar decision at the end of last year to stop selling political ads within the European Union.

Meta's decision is part of a series of conflicts with European regulatory authorities seeking to reduce the influence of major technology companies, imposing significant financial penalties on the company that amounted to about one billion euros last year.

Regulatory authorities also objected to the artificial intelligence features offered by Meta, leading to the temporary suspension of launching some of these technologies in the European Union.

Meta emphasizes that this move will not significantly impact its revenues, as the company's CFO clarified in February 2024 that political ads are not a major contributor to its revenue growth, with continued sales of these ads in the United States and other countries outside the European Union.

In a related context, Meta has refused to sign the Code of Practice on Artificial Intelligence Regulation in the European Union, putting it in ongoing confrontation with the new European laws.