Facebook and Instagram to cease political ads across EU
In response to the EU’s new regulation on political advertising transparency, Meta will stop running all political, electoral, and social issue ads in EU countries starting October 2025.
Meta has announced it will suspend all political, electoral, and social issue advertising across its platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and others, within the European Union beginning in October 2025. The move comes in direct response to the EU’s Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, which imposes stringent rules on disclosure and targeting practices for political content
The TTPA requires platforms and advertisers to disclose who is funding political ads, what elections or issues they concern, and limits the use of personal data for targeting. Meta described the framework as creating ‘an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty,’ making compliance too difficult to implement effectively. Instead of redesigning its ad infrastructure, Meta chose to exit the political ad space in the EU entirely.
This policy will apply across all 27 EU member states and affects tools used by campaigns to deliver targeted political messages. While paid ads will be banned, Meta clarified that users and political groups will still be able to post political content and engage in debate organically. The decision follows a similar move by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, in late 2024, which also cited compliance burdens related to the TTPA.
