Political, electoral, and social issue ads will no longer be served on Meta-owned platforms in the European Union, starting in October.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is complying with the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation that is set to take effect Oct. 10, requiring tech companies to clearly label political advertising on their platforms and disclose who paid for it and how much, as well as which elections are being targeted, or risk fines up to 6% of their annual turnover.

Meta said in a blog post, “We continue to believe online political advertising is a vital part of modern politics, connecting people to important information about the politicians that represent them, and ensuring that candidates have a cost-effective way of reaching their audiences.”

The company detailed the various ways political ads served on its platforms are “authentic, and information about them is transparent.” However, it noted, the new TTPA regulation “is yet another threat to the principles of personalized advertising, ignoring the benefits to advertisers and the people they want to reach.”

Meta is following in the footsteps of Alphabet, parent company of Google, which announced that it would stop serving political advertising in the EU before the regulation went into effect.

TTPA is not the only piece of regulation that has constrained Meta’s abilities within the EU. In October 2024, the EU’s top court ruled that social media networks cannot retain user information for indefinite ad targeting. 

The ruling meant that Facebook and Instagram, alongside other social media networks, must comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation data minimization principles. Breaching GDPR could result in fines of up to 4% of a company’s global annual turnover.