- Why the EU led Meta and Google to halt political advertising – How this will affect the upcoming elections in Greece.
- Which platforms are affected and how much was spent during the 2023 parliamentary elections?
- Angelos Seriatos (Prorata) talks to Data Journalists: Concerns over electoral interference by third countries – An advantage for the larger parties – The risk of mass propaganda through artificial intelligence systems – For some parties in Germany, as much as half of their support was generated through social media.
- Giorgos Trapalis (Founder and Owner of the research firm Good Affairs): Those who stand to lose the most are not necessarily the largest parties – The EU believes this is a way to curb anti-European parties.
- The new EU regulation, the algorithm and the new advertising rules on Meta and Google.
By Vasilis Galoupis
Amid the daily storm of news coverage and information overload, this development has largely been overlooked: the situation that has emerged in the European Union since October 2025 is widely regarded as the most significant shift in the digital landscape of political communication.
Meta’s decision to completely suspend political and electoral advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Threads could also reshape the pre-election environment in Greece, beginning with the next parliamentary election expected within the next 10–12 months. Furthermore, this was not an isolated move, as Google has taken similar steps. The upcoming elections will be the first in 15 years to take place without a significant presence from major digital platforms such as social media and YouTube.
The primary reason behind these decisions by the two technology giants is the implementation of the EU Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA). The TTPA introduced such stringent requirements that many major platforms chose to stop carrying political advertisements altogether to avoid legal liability and the enormous operational costs associated with compliance.
Which platforms are affected?
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads): The company has halted all advertisements related to political figures, political parties, elections and referendums, as well as those concerning ‘social issues’ that could be perceived as divisive or propagandistic, such as climate change and human rights. The company claims that the definitions in the new European regulation are too broad and ambiguous to implement safely and consistently.
- Google (Search, YouTube, and others): Google has adopted a similar strategy to Meta’s, significantly restricting the ability to run political and social issue advertisements within the European Union. The company has concluded that the TTPA’s requirements regarding advertiser verification and limitations on audience targeting render its platform unsuitable for such campaigns under the new regulatory framework.
Why did this happen?
According to the information released so far, the TTPA regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/900) aims to bring order to the previously unregulated landscape of political advertising. It came into full force on October 10, 2025. The key requirements that alarmed the technology giants are:
Transparency: Every political advertisement must be accompanied by clear disclosures stating who paid for it, how much it cost and which audience it is intended to reach.
Restrictions on targeting: The use of special categories of personal data (such as religious beliefs, political opinions, or sexual orientation) for audience targeting is prohibited unless the user has given explicit consent.
Liability: Platforms now bear significantly greater responsibility for ensuring compliance, and penalties for violations are severe.
In practice, this means that political actors, political parties and similar organisations can no longer ‘buy’ access to audiences for political messaging. According to the experts we spoke with, they must now rely exclusively on organic content — that is, posts published on their own pages — which, however, remains subject to each platform’s algorithm.
Some of the analysts who spoke to Data Journalists for this report point out that this development is forcing politicians to return to more traditional communication channels, such as blogs, personal websites, and direct engagement with voters, in an effort to bypass the social media algorithms that now govern the flow of political discourse.
The political communications market in Europe is currently in a state of transition, with digital advertising as it was traditionally used during election campaigns having effectively been withdrawn from major online platforms.
Angelos Seriatos (Prorata): Reduced micro-targeting and the role of third countries
Data Journalists reached out to experts to map the new pre-election landscape under the new European regulation and assess the extent to which the electoral process is affected.
Angelos Seriatos, the head of scientific research at the polling company Prorata, states: ‘The ban will affect things in many ways. Whether it will actually be enforced is another question, of course. There are two aspects to this: the EU wants a clearer advertising landscape — how much money is being spent, which audiences are being targeted and on what basis. Meta and Google have concluded that, because the new framework is so complex, they will no longer accept political advertising.”
When asked whether the EU took this measure out of fear of electoral interference by third countries, Mr Seriatos emphasised: ‘The discussion began with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, as well as the corresponding campaign around Brexit. More broadly, there was a concern that social media could be used to conduct invisible influence campaigns whose funding sources we do not know.”
When asked what is changing, he responds: ‘What is changing? Essentially, I think this will mean less micro-targeting. It will probably mean more public political communication and greater importance for centralised messages that reach a broader audience rather than very small, highly specialised groups, or electoral ‘bubbles’. This raises another question: what does all this mean for democracy? Democracy requires a shared public space, and the issue is whether these new restrictions will weaken accountability.”
Giorgos Trapalis: The strongest parties are not the ones losing out
Giorgos Trapalis (Data and Political Analyst, Founder and Owner of the research company Good Affairs) notes in comments to Data Journalists: ‘This does not greatly affect large parties because they already have access to television panels, news bulletins, state funding and journalistic networks. Even if everyone is losing out — if we take that as a given — those who lose the most are not the ‘biggest’, meaning the most powerful parties. It is clear that political advertising has benefited all parties with significant financial resources throughout this period, not only in Greece, but across Europe too.’
And he adds: ‘By definition, social media campaigns tend to benefit newer candidates, as they can run targeted advertising. In other words, they could help new candidates regardless of whether they belonged to a major party. In theory, this measure is also intended to favour quality of content. One positive aspect of the legislation is that it will not necessarily favour the candidate who spends the most money, but rather the candidate with the best content. It will need to be ‘smart’ enough to go viral. Of course, content does not necessarily have to be ‘good’ — it could simply be provocative to be effective. Provocation can have a positive effect, but it can also have a negative one.
EU regulation that changes everything in upcoming elections regarding political advertising on social media and major platforms
How much did Greek political parties spend on social media in the 2023 parliamentary elections?
In a study published by Data Journalists in July 2023, immediately after the parliamentary elections, the top 15 pre-election MPs and the top 5 over the past four years were highlighted, alongside the officially reported spending figures available from Google and Meta.
Elections 2023: The amounts spent by parties and candidates on advertising
According to the data, New Democracy spent more than €800,000; SYRIZA spent €320,000; and PASOK spent more than €100,000. Specifically:
Ad spending by parties and their leaders’ profiles on Google (25/03/2023–24/07/2023):
New Democracy: €402,000
SYRIZA: €172,000
KKE: €48,000
PASOK: €34,800
MERA25: €19,100
NIKI: €8,900
Ad spending by parties and their leaders’ profiles on Meta (Facebook, Instagram) (24/04/2023–21/07/2023):
New Democracy: €417,733
SYRIZA: €149,071
PASOK: €68,124
MERA25: €25,210
Plefsi Eleftherias: €15,799
NIKI: €6,373
Greek Solution: €5,493
‘A way to curb Anti-European Parties’
As Mr Trapalis tells us, ‘All this legislation and these decisions were made at a time when anti-establishment parties were “on the rise”, especially the so-called anti-European parties that are often against the EU.’ These parties do not belong to the establishment and operate outside the traditional media. The EU wanted to find a way to restrict these parties’ self-funding. It’s also very different to place an ad in the conventional media of any given country than to do so on an open platform. You could see all the money you spent; there was no black money on Facebook. Everything was on record. While I can accept questions about where campaign funding came from, no one can say that it isn’t verifiable. The expenditure is right there. It’s up to the state itself to look into the source.
‘An advantage for larger parties’
According to Mr Seriatos of Prorata, ‘Smaller and newer parties used social media as a relatively cheap promotional tool. Larger parties already have an advantage in traditional media and on television, since that’s where they hold greater influence. The question that arises is whether we can find a regulatory framework that would foster greater transparency in campaigning and ensure a level playing field in terms of how messages are communicated. Will the EU intervene in a way that strengthens, rather than weakens, democracy? That remains to be seen. Because democracy could very well end up being weakened. We’ll have to wait and see. Despite the current regulation, it’s possible that trolls, major business interests with access to and influence over traditional media, or other outlets with a better understanding of the algorithm will continue to exist, allowing them to circumvent the rules.’
Trapalis: It shifts part of political spending and influence back to traditional media
What seems clear is that the ‘spots’ for new candidates are running out. Those who could previously promote a video for 500 euros, target specific geographic areas, reach voters directly, and build name recognition without approval or tolerance, will find it harder to do so from now on. The EU’s official argument is that this is being done for reasons of transparency and protection. Formally, that’s correct. In practice, however, it remains to be seen whether this regulation will increase restrictions and shift part of political spending and influence back to traditional media. In that case, the advantage would clearly favour the stronger party.
Seriatos: Mass propaganda from artificial intelligence systems: How half the vote share for some German Parties is coming from social media and how part of the electorate can be discouraged from voting
Mr Seriatos also introduces artificial intelligence into the conversation: ‘From now on, our opponent in elections will be artificial intelligence. In 2016, the concern was data; today, ten years later, it’s data combined with artificial intelligence. I believe that the EU’s framework is an attempt to address an era in which propaganda will not only come from parties or states, but also from artificial intelligence systems on a massive scale.
I’ve been in this field for almost 10 years. Microtargeting has evolved, shifting from mass messaging aimed at large population groups to the complete fragmentation of the political process as a whole. Our work over these past 10 years has become harder due to the fragmentation of spheres of perception when trying to approach measurement. Can we quantify how much social media ultimately affects election results? To a significant degree, yes, but we don’t know the exact figures. However, it has been shown that you can use social media to drive people away from voting altogether through political content or fake news if you calculate that certain groups would be better off not voting. This was observed in Brazil. In Germany, some parties owed more than half of their vote share to social media campaigns.
New Meta terms for political advertising
Meta: Stored for seven years
The European regulation does not ban political advertising outright, but it does set out strict rules designed to help citizens recognise political ads more easily. This is something that is discouraging Meta and Google from getting involved in the process at all.
Meta’s Advertising Terms, which can be found on the platform, state, among other things:
‘PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY
We make every effort to enhance ad transparency and provide people with more information about the ads they see. The Ad Library provides a comprehensive view of the ads currently running across all of our apps and services. It also provides additional information about ads related to social issues, elections or politics, including spending ranges, the people who saw the ad and the entities responsible for those ads. Ads on these topics are visible whether they’re active or inactive, and remain stored in the Ad Library for seven years.’
Google’s position
Following the changes to European regulations, Google’s new rules are similar to Meta’s. Revised on the platform (which also applies to YouTube), they have been in effect since September 1, 2025 — one month before their implementation across EU countries.
In fact, back in November 2024, Google had already announced that it would stop running political ads in the European Union in response to the EU’s new transparency and targeting rules for political advertising, which are due to come into effect in October 2025.
Aside from Google’s own websites, political ads are no longer displayed on YouTube in the EU either, as it is also owned by Google. The company has announced that similar regulations have already led it to stop displaying political ads in countries outside the EU, such as Canada and Brazil.
Following the changes to the European regulation, Google’s new rules are similar to Meta’s.
EU Regulation: ‘To combat information manipulation and interference, including by third countries’
Regulation (EU) 2024/900 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 on transparency and targeting in political advertising notes, among other things, that: ‘Political advertising can serve as a lever for disinformation, particularly when the advertising does not disclose its political nature, originates from sponsors outside the Union or uses targeting or ad-delivery techniques. A high level of transparency is required to support open and fair political debate, campaigns, and elections or referendums, and to combat information manipulation and interference, including illegal interference by third countries.’
