Google to stop serving political advertising in EU ahead of regulation

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) (GOOG) Google said it will stop serving political advertising in the European Union ahead of new regulation in October 2025. Google said, “The European Union’s upcoming Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising unfortunately introduces significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties for political advertisers and platforms. For example, 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. There is also a lack of reliable local election data permitting consistent and accurate identification of all ads related to any local, regional or national election across any of 27 EU Member States. And key technical guidance may not be finalized until just months before the regulation comes into effect. As a result, Google will stop serving political advertising in the EU before the TTPA enters into force in October 2025. Additionally, paid political promotions, where they qualify as political ads under the TTPA, will no longer be permitted on YouTube in the EU.”