Meta explores ban on political ads in Europe

Meta Platforms Inc executives are discussing a company-wide ban on political advertising in Europe due to concerns that Facebook and Instagram will be unable to comply with upcoming EU regulations targeting online campaigns, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

EU lawmakers in February agreed to tougher rules on targeted political advertising aimed at countering misinformation during elections. The proposed rules require U.S. tech giants to provide more data on their targeted political ads, with fines up to 4% of their global turnover for breaches.

Meta executives are concerned the definition of political ads under EU plans will be excessively broad that it will be easier to refuse all paid-for political campaigns on the company’s sites, the newspaper said, citing two people briefed on the discussions.

The European Commission last December warned Facebook parent Meta that it was breaching EU antitrust laws by distorting competition in markets for online classified advertising and abusing its dominant position. Reuters