Meta has announced that it will cease all political advertising in the European Union by October, citing legal uncertainties surrounding new regulations aimed at increasing transparency in electoral campaigns.

According to AP, the social media giant stated that starting from early October, it will no longer permit ads related to political, electoral, or social issues on its platforms, which include Threads.

The company explained that this decision stems from the "unworkable" EU rules regarding transparency and targeting of political ads.

Meta claims that these regulations pose "significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties".

Notably, this is not the first major tech company to take such action. Last year, Google announced it would stop displaying political ads to users in the EU until these regulations come into effect, citing similar reasons.

Under the new rules, set to go into effect on October 10, platforms must label political ads, indicating who funded them and how they relate to a campaign, referendum, or legislative process. The advertising must be stored in a database and can only be targeted at users under strict conditions.

"These rules impose significant additional obligations on our processes and systems, resulting in an unacceptable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU," Meta stated.

Violations of these rules could result in fines of up to 6% of the company’s annual global revenue.

Meta assured that its decision would not affect users who wish to discuss politics on its platforms, nor will it hinder politicians, candidates, and officials from "organically sharing political content".

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