Meta will suspend political advertising in the EU and blames regulation

Digital giant Meta (Facebook, Instagram) announced this Friday 25th that, due to the strict regulation of digital platforms in the EU, it will suspend the dissemination of political propaganda on its platforms in the bloc, and blamed current legislation.

"This is a difficult decision we have made in response to the EU's new Transparency and Targeting in Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation," the company announced. The measure will come into effect in October.

“Meta, like other platforms, will no longer allow political, election, or social issue-related advertising on our platforms in the EU,” the company said.

The decision was taken in view of the “unfeasible requirements and legal uncertainties” raised by European regulations.

This change in operations, Meta indicated, “is specific to the EU (…), political, electoral and social advertising will continue to be permitted outside the EU as normal”.

Within the EU, users of Meta platforms will be able to post messages and discuss political issues, the company noted.

Meta stated that “online political advertising is a vital part of modern politics, as it connects people with important information about the politicians who represent them.”

However, he added that European legislation “introduces additional obligations into our processes and systems that create an unsustainable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers.”

Tensions

In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused the EU of “censorship” and compared the bloc’s fines on the company to tariffs.

The latest dispute between Meta and the EU concerns the payment system to prevent the company from using personal data, called 'pay or consent'.

The EU fined Meta 200 million euros ($235 million or 1.2 billion reais at the current exchange rate) in April after concluding the company violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram.

The company faces additional daily penalties if it fails to make changes, but the EU must still decide whether Meta has modified its platforms enough to avoid further fines.

Last year, Google announced that it would also eliminate political advertising starting in October 2025 due to “new operational challenges and legal uncertainties.”

In recent years, the EU has adopted a rigorous network of laws regulating the operation of digital platforms, most of them American.

In this dispute, digital platforms such as Meta and Google complain that legal regulations amount to a straitjacket against freedom of expression .

This argument resonates deeply with the current US administration.

The State Department on Tuesday accused European countries of convicting individuals for the "crime of criticizing their governments."

In the US Congress, the Judiciary Committee even considered European legislation an “external censorship threat.”

The head of this committee, Congressman Jim Jordan (an ally of President Donald Trump), will meet in Brussels next Monday with the European Commissioner responsible for digital affairs, Henna Virkkunen.