Meta reportedly considering Europe political ads ban

Policymakers in Brussels are proposing rules that would force online tech groups including Facebook and Google to divulge information about political adverts, including how much they cost, who paid for the content and how many people have viewed them.

Those proposals have caused concern among Meta executives, who are worried about how wide the definition of political ads might be and how hard it may be to comply with the rules, according to the Financial Times.

The corporation is among a raft of social media companies, including Twitter, which faced criticism for allowing users to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories across their platforms after the 2016 US presidential election, raising fears over how voters may have been manipulated by the content.

While Meta bosses initially resisted pressure to factcheck political advertising, it went on to temporarily suspend campaign adverts on its website in the run-up to important elections, including the US presidential vote in 2020.

Meta was contacted for comment.