Google announced that it has decided to stop political advertising services in the European Union (EU). The company stated that behind this step lies the uncertainty in the EU’s Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulations, which will come into force soon. TTPA aims to prevent election interference and enable voters to make informed decisions. However, Google states that these regulations involve significant operational difficulties and legal uncertainties.
Google stated that the definition of political advertising in the TTPA is kept quite broad, and this creates difficulties in determining which content should be restricted in different regions of the EU. The company plans to stop serving political ads before the regulation goes into effect in October 2025. He also stated that he will evaluate the situation throughout the process to finalize the decision and will share detailed information next year.
This decision is reminiscent of Google’s previous practices in which it terminated its political advertising services in France, Canada and Brazil due to similar regulatory issues. The company prefers to cease operations in cases where it is not possible to comply with the legal framework.
Under the TTPA, political ads must be clearly labeled to inform users. Advertisements are required to include information such as why the user was targeted to this ad, who financed the ad, how much was paid, and which election or referendum it is linked to. In addition, targeting political ads requires users’ explicit consent. In addition, the use of children’s data and certain personal information is completely prohibited. The new rules also stipulate that paid political promotions on platforms such as YouTube will be banned if they fall within the definition of political advertising set out under the TTPA.
Google had called for more clarity
In a statement made last February, Google warned that the proposed version of these regulations could disrupt the company’s content recommendation systems and that more clarity was needed regarding the scope of political ads.
While this decision by Google brings the discussions of transparency and ethics in political advertising back to the agenda, it also seems to affect digital campaign processes in EU countries. Especially considering the importance of digital advertising in election processes, it is estimated that this change will have different results for both candidates and voters.