Big Changes to Meta Ads in the EU. How Charities Can Stay Ahead.
From October 2025, Meta will no longer allow political, electoral, and social issue ads in the EU. Currently, the UK remains unaffected. This is a decision that’s been made in response to the EU’s Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation. Further details from Meta can be found here.
It’s important to note that this change only affects paid advertising - organic posts will remain unaffected.
Why this matters, even if you’re not in the EU
If you’re running EU based campaigns, this announcement is likely to be of concern. However, if you’re outside of the EU, it’s still a good idea to understand the details of the restrictions as Meta continues to tighten and make changes to ad regulations.
At DTV, we work with a range of cause-led organisations across both the EU and globally and understand how challenging this latest update from Meta could be. Based on the information from Meta so far, this is what we understand.
Lots of campaigns are likely to remain unaffected.
If you’re an organisation that runs direct fundraising campaigns and do not focus on political/social issues you are likely to be unaffected.
Awareness ads that don’t have a political point of view or commentary
Organisations operating outside of the EU
However, this still leaves some campaigns and organisations at risk.
If you’re an organisation that uses two step conversion (i.e petition to donate) you are likely to be impacted
If you run campaigns that are deemed political or are tied to political events, including elections
Have faced previous issues with Meta’s automated review and been flagged for sharing politically/socially sensitive content.
What can you do?
This change to legislation is likely to impact advocacy organisations more than any others. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t actions that you can take to help mitigate any changes that are introduced.
Review your upcoming campaigns. Is there anything that can be launched early, ahead of the restrictions being introduced? If not, can messaging or asks be re-worked to make them less likely to be flagged by Meta once the restrictions are in place.
Diversify your channel mix. This latest change from Meta again reinforces the need to diversify your channel strategy and test new digital channels. At DTV, we’ve seen great success on Google* - namely PMAX and Programmatic Display - when it comes to reaching audiences at scale. Depending on your issue, audience and objective, TikTok may also be a great channel to consider.
*Whilst Google has also been impacted by the same TTPA regulation, its interpretation has been different and so has introduced more defined and less rigid regulations than Meta.
Don’t forget about your organic channels - Your organisation's organic Meta accounts will remain unaffected and are a great place to reach already engaged audiences. As is your email list. It’s also a great opportunity to look at your website, landing and donation pages to see if there is anything you can do to streamline your checkout.
If you’re reading this and outside of the EU - it’s worth staying on top of any changes to Meta advertising to ensure you’re ready to act if necessary.
You can read our original blog from January, which covers Meta’s earlier ad changes, here.
And if you have any questions or would like further clarity on how these changes could affect your campaigns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at DTV. We're here to help.
Bio
Saleem
Saleem is Global Strategy and Digital Director and has spent more than 20 years working in the UK’s leading fundraising agencies. He has helped many charities build highly effective acquisition, retention and legacy fundraising programmes. He is a passionate fundraiser and loves creative development and digital innovation.