Google says it will stop serving political ads in the EU

Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc’s new transparency regulations. In a new blog post, Google says the upcoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) rules that aim to prevent election interference and help voters make informed choices will introduce significant “operational challenges and legal uncertainties.”

Google says the definition of political advertising in the TTPA, which is set to come into force in October 2025, is too broad and makes it difficult to reliably identify what content should be restricted across different EU regions at scale. The search giant is planning to stop serving political ads before the TTPA takes effect, and says it will continue evaluating its decision and share more information on the exact timing next year.

Google has previously halted its political ads service in France, Canada, and Brazil due to similar issues around complying with local regulations.

“Throughout the legislative process, we shared concerns about the potential impact of the TTPA and the challenges posed by some of its requirements, but the regulation ultimately failed to provide the necessary clarity and specificity that would have permitted us to comply with its requirements,” Google said in its announcement. 

The upcoming TTPA rules will require online political ads to be clearly labeled to help inform people “whether they are being targeted with an ad, who is paying for it, how much is being paid, and to which elections or referendum it is linked.” Ad providers must also obtain explicit consent from users to serve them with targeted political ads, and cannot use minors’ data and certain personal information.

The change will also prohibit paid political promotions on YouTube that qualify as political ads under the EU transparency rules. Google aired concerns about the then-proposed regulations in a blog last February, arguing that the restrictions could disrupt its recommendation systems and that more clarity was needed on what constitutes a political ad.