Key Takeaways
- Google will stop running political advertisements in the EU due to uncertainty around new regulations.
- The next EU TTPA forbids foreign advertisements before elections and requires clear labeling of user consent.
- Google points to issues with imprecise election data and broad ad definitions.
Due to uncertainty surrounding new transparency regulations, Google will stop running political advertisements in the EU next year.
The business drew attention to issues with the EU’s new political advertising regulations, which are intended to prevent election meddling.
Political advertisements must be marked with election, funding, and targeting information in accordance with the upcoming EU Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA). Ad providers are not allowed to utilize the data of children and must obtain user consent. Additionally, sponsored political advertisements on YouTube that violate transparency guidelines are prohibited, as are foreign-supported advertisements within the three months prior to elections.
The internet giant claimed greater transparency than conventional media in a blog post, stating that it enforces transparency in political advertising by limiting ad targeting, demanding identity verification, and making detailed disclosures.
Google, however, expressed worries about compliance across EU countries during the lawmaking process and said that the TTPA poses operational and legal challenges because of its broad definition of political ads, delayed technical guidance and erratic election data.
As a result, Google plans to stop running political advertisements prior to the regulations taking effect in October 2025 and will update users the following year. Since we are aware that political advertisements are a useful tool for both politicians and voters, we are sorry to have to take this action,” the company added.
Google added that it had previously stopped delivering political advertisements in Canada, France, and Brazil due to similar rules.
Google expressed reservations about the proposed rules in February, stating that they could affect its recommendation algorithms and that they needed more information on what constitutes a political advertisement.
