Meta will cease all political advertising on its platforms in the European Union by October, citing legal uncertainties related to new regulations aimed at enhancing transparency in election campaigns.

According to AP, the social media giant stated that starting in October, political, electoral, and social issue ads will no longer be permitted on its platforms, including Threads.

The decision was made due to the "non-functional" EU rules regarding transparency and targeting of political ads, the company stated.

Meta mentioned that these rules present "significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties".

This is not the first major tech company to take such a step. Last year, Google announced it would stop showing political ads to EU users until these regulations came into effect, citing similar reasons.

Under the new rules set to take effect on October 10, platforms must label political ads, indicating who funded them and which campaign, referendum, or legislative process they are associated with. Ads must be stored in a database and can only be targeted at users under strict conditions.

Meta emphasized that these rules introduce significant additional obligations for their processes and systems, creating an unacceptable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU.

Violations could incur fines of up to 6% of the company's annual global revenue.

Meta asserted that this decision will not impact users who wish to discuss politics on its platforms and will not prevent politicians, candidates, and officials from "organically sharing political content".

"They simply won’t be able to promote it through paid advertising," the statement read.