Meta Bans Social Issue Ads in EU – What Now?

By Danni Adam

A few days ago, Meta announced that it will do away with its political ads category in the EU. This means that from October, Meta ‘political’ ads, which fall within the category of Social Issues, Elections, or Politics ads, will no longer be allowed.

This announcement likely caused alarm in many organisations, especially those reliant on petition-based lead generation. The exact effects remain uncertain because Meta’s categorisation and moderation processes have long been inconsistent and often opaque. How the new rules will be applied in practice and which ads will ultimately be impacted, is still unclear. 

We’re already working with clients to test different approaches and develop strategies to navigate the transition, some of which I’ve outlined below.

What does Meta count as Social Issues, Elections, or Politics ads? Will direct-to-donate ads be affected?

Anyone running Meta ads knows there is a huge lack of consistency in ad categorisation and moderation. Many charities run ads which would appear to fall under the subcategory of ‘social,’ which although not clearly defined, include ads on immigration, climate change, civil rights, health care, education, crime, and justice.

Looking at those topics, you would assume most charities would struggle to run Meta ads in the EU from October. But it isn’t clear-cut. Take the case study from one international development organisation: direct-to-donate videos on virus spread, conflict in South Sudan, and even the effects of the reduction of USAID all got through without political categorisation. For another, Gaza appeal ads sometimes required political categorisation, but when it has been required, it has not been clear why. The big issue is likely to be with petition ads. 

The distinction: Commercial/humanitarian vs. Policy/advocacy content

From trawling Meta published blogs (painfully) Meta seems to draw a distinction between commercial/humanitarian content and policy/advocacy content:

• Commercial/Humanitarian content: Ads that focus on direct assistance or fundraising without pushing a political agenda. For example these could be:

• A video raising funds to provide clean water in a drought-affected region

• An appeal to donate for emergency medical supplies during a natural disaster

• General donate videos, with a non-political tone

• Policy/Advocacy content: Ads that seek to influence public opinion or policy decisions through discussion of social issues or political processes. For example:

• A petition asking users to lobby their government to pass climate legislation

The latter requires political ad categorisation and disclaimers, while the former should be allowed to run without these restrictions - although it may depend on the wording, tone and phrasing. 

Why this matters for direct-to-donate ads

Ads focused purely on helping people or raising funds without advocacy or policy commentary in some cases will hopefully stay outside of the “political/issue” category. That explains why some of our clients running humanitarian relief work haven’t had to always add the political ad category for direct-to-donate appeals. And when these ads have been rejected, it may be due to tone or a fluke of the chaotic moderation system, which is notoriously difficult to appeal (or a Meta internal bias that decides some crises are more political than others….). 

However, if ads seek to raise money to influence public opinion or campaigning, Meta may classify these as political ads. This means more advocacy-focused organisations will be disproportionately impacted, potentially needing to ‘tone down’ donate content and messaging.

What about petition-based ads?

Petition ads almost always ask users to pressure a government or decision-maker to act, so they usually fall under the political category. Even if the ad doesn’t mention a specific party or candidate, if it references current legislation or seeks to mobilise political will, it could be disallowed. What remains unclear is whether softer approaches, such as calls to show solidarity or hand-raisers, will be allowed.

How does Meta decide?

Meta primarily reviews the ad text and content, but the website landing page text linked to in the ad is also supposed to factor into the decision. So it may be that softer, more neutral ads will only be approved if the landing page itself also reflects this tone. However, testing will be necessary, and we assume only the initial landing page will be scrutinised.

What about Google Ads?

Google has announced it will stop serving political ads before October 2025 and already has restrictions on serving these ads, such as limiting reach and requiring additional verification.

BUT there are two important differences: 

1. Google’s definition of political ads is narrower and more defined 

It covers: 

• Promotion of political parties or candidates

• Political issue advocacy, including ads that influence public opinion or debate around social or policy issues

• Calls to vote, support, or oppose legislation, government action, or public office holders

2. Many ads that require political categorization on Meta, don't currently seem to require it on Google

For instance, I’m currently running petition-based Google ads without the existing political categorisation. At first, these ads were approved but limited because the content was wrongly deemed to be about personal health issues and ‘clickbait.’ After requesting a review, the restrictions were lifted. That means real people, moderators, checked the ads and approved them. But importantly, the petition target is not based in the EU, where the ad is running. Ads that avoid referencing policy in the targeted region may avoid flagging, even if from organisations known for advocacy.

Could Meta or Google change their categorisations?

Enforcing this decision could mean significant income loss for Meta. They may choose to separate and better define their political ad category, continuing to reject election-related ads while potentially creating a new category for social issue-focused ads. But Google may also expand and strengthen its political ad policies. At this point, it’s too early to tell.

How we are preparing with clients

Unfortunately and fortunately at the same time, there might not be a hard and fast rule on what this all means in practice. But with potentially affected clients, some of the strategies we are putting into practice now are:

• Testing petitions with targets outside of the EU on Google ads, to see how they are categorised and to set benchmarks for potential re-forecasting and planning post-October 2025.
  

• Creating ‘softer’ and less political ad content for ads currently falling within the political categorisation and testing to see if Meta will approve them without it.
  

• Potentially investigating additional multi-step engagement for Meta ads. At the moment, for many charities, petition pages with an in-built donate ask bring in extremely high ROAS from online donations. In the future, there may need to be a step before the petition, but the ads can still be optimised for a later point.
  

• Re-focusing on the split between lead gen and direct-to-donate on Meta, being prepared to shift more budget to focus on the latter.

What does it mean for charities in the UK, USA and other regions?

So far there’s no indication that this will apply to anywhere outside the EU. It’s European Union legislation that Meta is responding to here. What we recommend to charities in other regions is that you monitor the situation, and also look at diversifying your ads. It’s another  reminder that the ad platforms can sometimes change dramatically with very little notice, and it’s just good strategy to ensure you’re never overly reliant on one platform. 

Get help navigating this change

For charities targeting EU audiences, it’s crucial now to start preparing for this possibility. Brief your senior management on the news, and start looking at a review of your digital ads strategy. If you’re a more political-focused organisation, you’ll need to prepare to really pivot activities and also investigate if the political category applies to all the Meta ads that you run.