Meta has announced that it will stop allowing political advertising in the European Union by October, citing legal uncertainties arising from new rules aimed at increasing the transparency of electoral campaigns.
According to AP, the social media giant has decided to halt ads related to political and social issues across all its platforms, including Threads.
Meta stated that this decision was made due to the "non-functional" EU rules regarding transparency and targeting of political ads.
According to the company, these rules create "significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties".
This is not the first time a major tech company has taken such a step; last year, Google also announced it would stop showing political ads to EU users until these rules are enforced, citing similar reasons.
Under the new regulations set to take effect on October 10, platforms will be required to label political ads, indicating who funded them and what campaign, referendum, or legislative process they are associated with. Ads must be stored in a database and can only be targeted at users under strict conditions.
"These rules introduce significant additional obligations for our processes and systems, creating an unacceptable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU," Meta stated.
Violations could incur fines of up to 6% of the company's annual global revenue.
Meta assured that this decision would not impact users wishing to discuss politics on its platforms, nor hinder politicians and candidates from "organically sharing political content".
"They just won't be able to promote it through paid advertising," the statement read.
