Meta's announcement echoed a decision announced by Alphabet's Google last November, highlighting the resistance of big tech companies to EU rules aimed at curbing their power and ensuring greater accountability and transparency.

The European Union legislation, called the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation, which will come into force on October 10, was prompted by concerns about disinformation and foreign interference in elections across the 27-nation bloc.

The law requires big tech companies to clearly label political advertising on their platforms, who paid for it and how much, as well as which elections it is targeted at, or face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual turnover.

"From the beginning of October 2025, we will no longer allow political, electoral and social issue advertising on our platforms in the EU," Meta said in a blog post.

"This is a difficult decision we have made in response to the upcoming EU regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising (TTPA), which poses significant operational challenges and legal uncertainty," the statement said.

Meta argued that EU rules would ultimately harm Europeans.

“We believe that personalized ads are critical for many advertisers, including those involved in campaigns designed to inform voters about important social issues that shape public discourse,” the statement said.

“Regulations like the TTPA severely undermine our ability to offer these services, impacting not only the effectiveness of advertisers’ outreach, but also voters’ ability to access comprehensive information.”

The European Commission is currently investigating Meta-owned social networks Facebook and Instagram for their alleged failure to combat disinformation and misleading advertising in the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections.

The EU investigation is being conducted under the Digital Services Act, which requires major technology companies to take more proactive action to combat illegal and harmful content on their platforms, or face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual global turnover.

ByteDance's platform TikTok has also come under the EU's scrutiny for its alleged failure to combat electoral interference, notably during Romania's presidential election last November.