Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has decided to stop selling and displaying political advertisements in the European Union (EU) beginning in October. This decision is a response to the upcoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) legislation within the Bloc.
Meta has raised concerns about the TTPA’s complexity and its impact on personalized advertising. The legislation requires political ads to be transparent, with clear labeling, sponsor disclosure, and obtaining consent for data usage.
The TTPA introduces additional obligations that Meta finds challenging due to their level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU. The company stated in a blog post that the law’s restrictions on ad targeting and delivery threaten the ability of political and social issue advertisers to effectively reach their audiences, resulting in less relevant ads for users.
Despite Meta’s engagement with policymakers to address these concerns, the company has concluded that the TTPA regulations pose an intractable dilemma. Meta sees the legislation as a threat to the fundamental principles of personalized advertising and, as a result, will discontinue political, electoral, and social issue ads within the EU.
Enacted by the European Commission in 2024, the TTPA mandates thorough transparency for political ads, including detailed labeling, sponsor disclosure, cost information, and targeting mechanisms. Furthermore, the law emphasizes the need for explicit consent when using data collected for political ads and prohibits the utilization of sensitive personal data for profiling purposes.
Following Meta’s decision, Google has also announced plans to halt the sale of political ads in the EU by October. Google cites the operational challenges and legal uncertainties posed by the new TTPA legislation as reasons for this action.
