Google said it would stop serving political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties surrounding the bloc’s new transparency rules. In a new blog postGoogle announces the next Political Advertising Transparency and Targeting Rules (TTPA) that aim to prevent election interference and help voters make informed choices will introduce significant “operational challenges and legal uncertainties.”

Google claims that 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 content that should be restricted in different EU regions on a broad scale. The search giant plans to stop serving political ads before the TTPA takes effect, and says it will continue to evaluate its decision and share more information on the exact timeline next year.

Google has already discontinued its political advertising service In France, CanadaAnd Brazil due to similar issues regarding compliance with local regulations.

“Throughout the legislative process, we shared our concerns about the potential impact of the TTPA and the challenges posed by some of its requirements, but the regulations ultimately failed to provide the necessary clarity and specificity that would have us allowed 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 “if they are being targeted by an ad, who is paying for it, how much is being paid, and what elections or referendums it is related to.” Advertising providers must also obtain explicit consent from users to serve them targeted political ads, and cannot use minors’ data or certain personal information.

The change will also ban paid political promotions on YouTube that are considered political advertisements under EU transparency rules. Google has raised concerns about regulations then proposed in a blog last Februaryarguing that the restrictions could disrupt its recommendation systems and that more clarity was needed on what constitutes political advertising.