Google and Meta have decided to ban political and social advertising on their platforms within the European Union as a result of the upcoming implementation of the EU Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) in October of this year.
Both technology giants claim that this new European regulation presents more problems than solutions. According to their statements, it introduces significant operational challenges, legal uncertainties, and a lack of legal clarity, negatively affecting both advertisers and political platforms.
The TTPA aims to establish a common framework for political advertising within the EU, fostering transparency, guaranteeing the privacy rights of recipients, and countering information manipulation and foreign interference in elections.
According to a statement from the Council of the European Union, this regulation, “will make it easier for citizens to identify political advertising, understand who is behind it, and know whether they have received targeted advertising, so that they are better positioned to make informed decisions. It will also ensure that political advertising fully respects privacy rights and protects freedom of opinion and freedom of expression.”
Some of the main obligations established in the TTPA include:
Furthermore, although at first glance it might appear that the TTPA would only affect political advertising, in reality, the definition of “political advertising” set forth by the regulation is so broad that it may also encompass and impact social advertising and that of NGOs.
The TTPA’s scope includes not only ads seeking to influence the outcome of elections or referendums, but also those aiming to influence legislative or regulatory processes or voting behavior.
This means that an NGO’s advertisement on a social issue, such as climate change, immigration, human rights, or public health, could be classified as “political advertising” if it is determined to be attempting to influence a decision by authorities or public opinion ahead of a vote or a new law.
This new regulation brings significant changes to online political advertising—changes that platforms such as Meta or Google would be required to implement in the EU in order to continue marketing such advertising without facing sanctions.
However, these modifications involve a range of challenges (changes in targeting and restrictions, implementing labeling systems, managing these requirements across the 27 member states with their various languages and political contexts, etc.) that both technology companies have refused to address due to technical complications and their assessment that such measures would harm their advertisers’ activities and also the experience of those who receive the advertising.
Meta has justified its decision by stating that, “unfortunately, the TTPA imposes significant additional obligations on our processes and systems, which creates an unsustainable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU.
For example, the TTPA imposes extensive restrictions on the targeting and delivery of ads, which would limit how political and social advertisers could reach their audiences and would result in users seeing less relevant ads on our platforms. This presents a new threat to the principles of personalized advertising, ignoring the benefits for both advertisers and the individuals they wish to reach.”
For its part, Google already expressed its opposition to this regulation in November 2024, highlighting flaws it perceives: “The TTPA defines political advertising so broadly that it could encompass ads related to a wide range of topics that would be difficult to reliably identify at scale.
In addition, there is a lack of reliable local electoral data to enable consistent and accurate identification of all ads related to any local, regional, or national election within any of the EU’s 27 member states. Moreover, key technical guidelines might not be finalized until just a few months before the regulation enters into force.”
As a result, Google will no longer allow the purchase or scheduling of political and issue-based advertising in the EU as of September, and Meta will follow suit starting in early October.
Additionally, Meta has emphasized that this measure is specific to the EU, and that it will continue to market political and social advertising in the rest of the world, while also ensuring security and transparency through the tools and protocols it already has in place.
Meta added: “this will also not prevent EU citizens from continuing to discuss politics on our services, nor will it prevent politicians, candidates, and public officials from producing and sharing political content organically. They simply will not be able to amplify it through paid advertising.”
Nevertheless, the decision by Google and Meta does close the door to an official, legitimate, and controlled channel of communication for matters as sensitive as political and social issues. Bearing in mind that social networks are the perfect breeding ground for the spread of rumors and misinformation, this could have negative consequences.
While political actors will still be able to use their social profiles to disseminate their messages and ideas—with these spaces also being more regulated—the alternative options that remain become opaque. In other words, between the option of receiving advertising knowing who is behind the message, who funded it, and being able to take legal action if it includes erroneous or false information, and the option of receiving information from unofficial accounts that share data, events, or opinions without it being possible to know who is influencing them, transparency is completely lost.
Photo: Depositphotos
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