Meta bans TikTok Ads on Facebook and Instagram

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has decided to ban advertising by ByteDance, the Chinese group that controls TikTok, on its platforms in the United States and six other countries, a company representative announced on Thursday.

The decision marks a new stage in the competition between the two technology groups, as TikTok has become one of Meta's main rivals in attracting users, content creators and advertising budgets.

The restrictions take effect immediately and apply in the United States, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. The ban targets both advertisements promoted directly by ByteDance and campaigns run by third-party advertisers that include links to TikTok or other services operated by the Chinese group.

Meta justified its decision by citing its right to refuse the promotion of competing services on its own platforms.

"We are not obligated to run ads for a competitor whose objective is to draw users away from our apps. Refusing to provide advertising services to a competitor is a common business practice across numerous industries. We will continue to compete through the quality of our products and the experience we offer users," the company said.

For its part, TikTok also applies certain restrictions regarding interaction with competing platforms. According to information published on the company's website, the app does not allow the use of links that directly open other social networks or enable users to log into them. However, users can include web addresses in their personal profiles that direct visitors to the websites of those platforms.

The commercial dispute between Meta and ByteDance is unfolding alongside growing pressure on social media companies to protect minors in the digital environment.

In August, Meta reached an agreement with authorities from more than 52 U.S. states in litigation concerning the negative effects of social networks on children and teenagers. The settlement, which could be worth up to $18 billion, provides for the introduction of additional safety measures for underage users.

The company subsequently publicly called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar standards, arguing that protective measures would have a limited impact if implemented by only some social media platforms.

Among the provisions promoted by Meta are limiting app usage to two hours per day, disabling access by default during nighttime hours, suspending notifications during school hours and displaying warnings every 15 minutes of continuous use.

The company also proposes expanding parental supervision tools so that parents can more effectively control how teenagers use social media.

In an open letter addressed to TikTok and YouTube, Meta argued that the effectiveness of these measures depends on their adoption across the entire industry.

"We want teenagers to benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot achieve this goal alone. These protective measures will only be truly effective if we work with other platforms, TikTok and YouTube, to implement the same rules. All platforms should give parents greater control and support teenagers, because we know that when young people's access is restricted on one app, they simply move to another. To achieve meaningful progress, we urge our competitors to join us," Meta said in its open letter to TikTok and YouTube.

Under the agreement reached in August, the American company committed to introducing daily usage limits for minors accessing Facebook and Instagram, restricting the use of the apps during nighttime hours and strengthening mechanisms that prevent children from accessing age-inappropriate content.

TikTok has not publicly commented on Meta's initiative, but in September it reached a separate agreement with authorities in Alabama. The settlement requires the platform to introduce new restrictions on time spent in the app and improve its user age-verification procedures.

The agreement ended litigation in which TikTok was accused of endangering children's safety and misleading consumers about the protective measures available on the platform.

In the U.S. market, TikTok currently operates through a joint venture majority-owned by American investors, following an agreement designed to protect the data of users in the United States and prevent the app from being banned.

The transaction allowed TikTok to continue operating in one of its most important markets, where the platform has more than 200 million users.