Google to stop serving political ads in EU

New European Union rules on political ads are too complicated for even the tech giant to untangle. Google says it will stop serving political advertising in the block due to operational challenges and legal uncertainties.

Starting October 2025, European Union politicians and parties won’t be able to use Google’s platforms, including YouTube, for political advertising and paid political promotions.

The decision is timed with the implementation of the EU Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA).

“TTPA unfortunately introduces significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties for political advertisers and platforms,” Google said.

“The TTPA defines political advertising so broadly that it could cover ads related to an extremely wide range of issues that would be difficult to reliably identify at scale.”

Google also points out the lack of reliable local election data on how to identify political ads related to local, regional, or national elections across 27 EU states.

“Key technical guidance may not be finalized until just months before the regulation comes into effect,” said Annette Kroeber-Riel Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy for Europe.

The TTPA was adopted in March 11th, 2024 and its goal is to help citizens to recognize political advertisements, understand who is behind them and know whether they’ve received targeted ads.

The rules require political ads to have a transparency label, clearly identifying them as such and providing some key information about them, including the sponsor, the election or referendum, the amounts paid, and any use of targeting techniques.

The TTPA also limits political advertising targeting. It requires advertisers to obtain explicit and separate consent from users for their data to be collected and used for political advertising. Special categories of personal data, such as data revealing racial or ethnic origin or political opinions, cannot be used for profiling.

To prevent foreign interference, the regulation also bans selling ads to third-country sponsors three months before an election or referendum.

Google previously shared concerns about the potential impacts of the TTPA, “but the regulation ultimately failed to provide the necessary clarity and specificity that would have permitted us to comply with its requirements.”

Search and ads giant made similar “difficult decisions” to exit political ads in France, Canada, and Brazil, where the company hasn’t been able to comply immediately with the specific regulations.

“We know political ads are a valuable resource for voters to find information and for candidates to share their message, so we regret that we have to take this step,” Google said.

“Making information universally accessible and useful remains at the heart of our mission.”

Google will share more information on the exact timing of the policy changes in 2025 and will continue evaluating the decision.

Cybernews previously reported that threat actors sometimes abuse Google ads for malicious activity.

The TTPA comes into force in the fall of 2025.