No political advertising on Facebook and Instagram ‘is a bit insane’

This article was last updated on July 28, 2025

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No political advertising on Facebook and Instagram ‘is a bit insane’

In his app group with all the campaign strategists “from the Hague Bubbel” it was mainly about one thing on Friday evening, says Online Strateg Justin Koornneef: the decision From tech company Meta to keep political advertisements from Instagram and Facebook in the European Union in the European Union.

The Netherlands has parliamentary elections at the end of October. Especially in the last few weeks before an election, voters are always overwhelmed with advertisements from political parties. Many campaign teams have to adjust their strategy in the coming period. “Nobody knows what effect it will have,” says Koornneef.

Some voter groups are very difficult to reach with party programs or TV spots.

Claes de Vreese, professor of political communication

The reason for meta’s step? In their own words, new European rules on political advertisements that will start on 10 October are “unworkable”. That is why the company will stop completely.

The regulation stipulates that it must be clear to social media users that they look at a political advertisement. Such an advertisement may only be personalized if the user gives permission for it. And for interference Foreign clients may no longer buy political advertisements three months before the elections.

“Social media companies are obliged to be transparent about political advertisements,” says Claes de Vreese, professor of political communication (University of Amsterdam). “They have to show who purchased the advertisements and how much money was paid for. And who wants to reach the advertiser with it.”

How do you define ‘politics’?

Because of the new rules, platforms must determine what is and what is not a political advertisement, and that is virtually impossible according to Meta. De Vreese: “Is an advertisement about immigration, climate or Gaza a political advertisement? And are we going to post it or not? They must always make that assessment.”

But De Vreese thinks this is a fallacy. “Because if Meta starts to keep political advertisements, they still have to determine per advertisement whether it is political or not.”

That is why he calls Meta’s announcement “actually a bit insane”. He sees it as a protest against the EU rules. “That also fits in with the mood at the moment that online platforms, entirely in line with the views of the US government, say: we do not want a regulation.”

Under fire

The scrapping of political advertisements means less income for Meta, but the company will not be grieving, Justin Koornneef of campaign agency BKB suspects. “If you look at the income of a company such as Meta, political advertisements are certainly not the majority. While they have a lot of hassle with it.” Companies such as Facebook have been regularly under fire in recent years due to (alleged) foreign influence on elections and the Targeting specific voters groups.

Dutch political parties, on the other hand, are “certainly a bit nervous” that they have less reach through the Socials in the fall, says Koornneef. “It has never been fully proven that political advertisements on social media lead to winning elections. But in general you want to be visible during these periods, so that people know who they can vote for.”

De Vreese: “Political advertisements on platforms can be conducive to creating a little more sympathy for a political candidate or for a party.”

Baving online advertisements is certainly not. In the previous elections, the PVV became the largest without having to spend a lot of money on social media advertising. “It is not that microtargeting means that people go over from one political party to another,” says De Vreese. “But some groups are very difficult to reach with party programs or commercials on television. And then it can be nice to be active on a platform such as tap or Instagram.”

Enable influencers

In the coming period, parties will look for other ways to attract online attention, says Koornneef. They can bet on platforms where advertisements will not be forbidden. And on Facebook and Instagram, politicians can always try to generate reach through regular, unpaid posts. “But without guaranteed, paid range, they don’t know how often their mail is shown. They have to work along the whims of the algorithm.”

Koornneef suspects that political parties will find ways to bypass the ban of meta, precisely because it is so difficult to determine when something is ‘political’. “If a political party advertises something, the system will recognize it. But if a party hires an influencer who calls very hard ‘voice bbb’, will the system immediately recognize it as a political advertisement? I am curious how Meta will control that.”