Google decides Europe's political ad rules are too hard to implement at scale

Will stop accepting ads instead before TTPA comes into force

Google has decided the European Union's Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising will be so hard to comply with it's better off not trying.

The search and ads giant on Thursday announced that it will stop serving political advertising in the EU sometime before October 2025 – when the Regulation (TTPA) comes into force.

Annette Kroeber-Riel, the big G's veep for government affairs and public policy in Europe, wrote that the TTPA "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," she wrote. Another concern is the "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."

Kroeber-Riel also noted that "key technical guidance may not be finalized until just months before the regulation comes into effect."

The TTPA was passed in March 2024 and billed as making it easier for voters to recognize political ads and learn who paid for them.

The regs therefore require ad platforms to identify political spots, identify the sponsor, the election or referendum to which they pertain, the amounts paid, and any use of targeting techniques. Targeted ads are only allowed after individuals opt in – separate from any other permissions they've granted.

Other jurisdictions already have laws on the books that require things like keeping records about political ads and making records of who bought and saw them available to the public. Those rules aren't always easy to comply with – ask Meta, which in 2022 copped substantial fines for over 800 infractions of Washington State law.

In 2024 some legislators also decided political ads generated by AI should be flagged so that voters know when humans outsource persuasion to machines.

Google has previously required those who place political ads to provide extra ID info, and says it aims to inform voters and protect election integrity.

But clearly the search and ads giant fears it can't do enough to meet the TTPA's requirements.

Which may be the point of the regulations. Another of Europe's aims is to stop those outside the Union from using online ads to influence elections. If even Google doesn't think it can reliably detect and prevent outside actors from trying to make a point during elections – and fears the consequences of failure – that's a win for Europe. ®