Meta executives are considering banning political advertising in Europe following concerns that Facebook and Instagram may not be able to comply with newly proposed EU regulations that scrutinise online ads.
According to the Financial Times (FT), Brussels regulators are heading up new laws to force internet platforms to reveal more about the political groups behind online campaigns and which users they are targeting.
Meta has reportedly raised concerns around the fact that the definition of political ads under the new plan will be so broad that it may be easier to ban all paid-for-political campaigns, according to two people briefed on internal discussions. These people also told FT that a political ads ban would be considered due to many users expressing general disinterest in the ads.
Meta’s plans will be finalised once the EU has decided what constitutes a political ad for its new regulations. The European Commission, European parliament and EU member states will agree on a final definition by 5 June.
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Between 2019 and 2020, the tech giant made £646 million ($800 million) in revenue from political advertising in the US.
The news comes months after Twitter said it would relax its restrictions on political advertising as the Elon Musk-owned app reviewed its ads policy.
Twitter Safety tweeted: “We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks.”
