Meta bans ByteDance and TikTok ads in seven countries
Meta now refuses ads from ByteDance and third parties promoting TikTok in the US and six other markets, as the rivalry between the platforms widens.
By
Rhys Llewellyn
Facebook and Instagram users in the United States and six other countries will stop seeing advertising for TikTok. Meta confirmed after a Bloomberg report that it now refuses ads from ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, along with any outside advertiser whose campaign leads to the app. The ban took effect on Thursday, according to The Verge.
In brief
- Meta confirmed after a Bloomberg report that it now refuses ads from ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, along with any outside advertiser whose campaign leads to the app.
- Readers outside the seven countries are not covered by what has been reported so far.
- For advertisers and creators in the seven markets, the immediate effect is simple: TikTok promotion will no longer appear in Facebook and Instagram feeds there, while the wider rivalry continues over links, safety demands and regulation.
What the ban covers
The Verge describes three categories of content that Meta will no longer accept: ads bought by ByteDance, paid marketing messages from the company, and outside ads pointing to TikTok. Engadget adds that campaigns run by outside advertisers on behalf of TikTok fall under the same prohibition in the listed countries. In practice, an agency cannot simply buy the space in ByteDance’s place.
Meta presented the decision as routine commercial judgment rather than a content rule. Spokesperson Christopher Sgro told The Verge that refusing to sell promotional services to a rival is standard across industries.
“We don’t have to run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off our apps,”
Christopher Sgro, Meta spokesperson
He added that Meta would keep competing through its products and user experience.
The seven markets concerned
The policy is not worldwide. Both outlets list the same set of countries, spread over three regions.
| Region | Countries covered |
|---|---|
| North America | United States, Canada |
| Africa | Egypt |
| Asia | Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam |
Because ByteDance remains among the shareholders in both accounts, the ban targets the company itself and not only the TikTok brand. Readers outside the seven countries are not covered by what has been reported so far.
Links were restricted first
The advertising ban follows another step on the TikTok side. According to its support page, as quoted by The Verge, users can no longer add links that open other social apps or sign people in to them. Engadget reports that TikTok had already stopped allowing Instagram and Facebook profile links before Meta moved on advertising. Each company has therefore limited the traffic it sends to the other, although the reports do not say whether the two decisions were coordinated or connected.
Child safety pressure in the background
Both reports place the ban against a wider dispute over the protection of minors. Meta agreed to a child safety settlement with US states that obliged it to add restrictions for teenage users. The sources disagree on the amount: The Verge gives $17 billion, while Engadget says $18 billion and dates the agreement to August, so the figure should be treated as unconfirmed here.
Since then, Meta has urged TikTok and YouTube to adopt comparable safeguards. Part of that effort was an advertising push that TikTok reportedly refused to carry on its platform. Engadget adds that Meta bought ads in major newspapers asking its rivals to follow suit and criticized TikTok for not attending several US government meetings on screen time and child safety.
European regulators have raised their own concerns. Engadget notes that this summer they wrote that TikTok had not done enough to protect minors, and that penalties reaching six percent of yearly revenue were possible. The same report adds that TikTok has offered little public comment on the conflict with Meta.
What to watch next
Several questions remain open and none is answered by the two sources. Neither says whether the ban will extend to more countries, whether TikTok will respond by restricting Meta advertising on its own service, or how much money ByteDance previously spent on Meta’s platforms. For advertisers and creators in the seven markets, the immediate effect is simple: TikTok promotion will no longer appear in Facebook and Instagram feeds there, while the wider rivalry continues over links, safety demands and regulation.
Featured image. Source: Pexels. Credit: ready made. License: Pexels License.
