Meta is banning political ads in the EU.

Meta has dropped the latest bombshell in the EU’s political advertising debate, announcing that – like Google – it would ban ads from political and social issue organizations on its platforms from October 2025.

Meta has said that the EU’s TTPA (Targeting and Transparency in Political Advertising) presents “unworkable requirements” and an “untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty.” This language closely mirrors Google’s, which said in November 2024 that TTPA “introduces significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties for political advertisers and platforms.”

In both cases, the platforms seem to have decided that the revenue from political and social issue advertisers just wasn’t worth the burden of compliance, especially given the risk of a potential fine of up to 6% of total revenue. We all know how much the EU loves to sue Google and Facebook, after all.

What does Meta’s departure mean for political advertisers in Europe?

Meta has been mauled by political campaigning scandals over the years, and fundamentally deserves all the scrutiny – and fines! – that come its way.

However, it’s still true that the EU’s harsh regulations on political advertising are costly for progressives.

In the short term, Meta’s exit will hurt smaller progressive parties and NGOs in two ways:

• European organizations that post sensationalist and inflammatory content have dominated organic reach on social media, and progressives fought back by paying for reach.
• Social media network ads encourage engagement (clicks and shares), a potent fundraising strategy for progressive NGOs.

Electica will continue to support political ads in the EU.

Our view is that responsible political advertising is a social good, and an important way for political campaigns and social organizations to communicate with their constituents.

Our message to our users, clients, and partners is that we’re confident and committed to finding ways to allow you to reach your constituents with compliant ads across the EU – so we’re not going anywhere. We will continue to stay on top of and adapt to new regulations and platform limitations, advise our clients in their best interests, and find pathways to keep your ads up and running in Europe.

Want to reach out to us about keeping your EU political ads up and running, no matter what happens with Google and Meta? Reach out to us to start a conversation about your campaign.