Meta Bans TikTok and ByteDance Ads Across Its Platforms in Multiple Countries
Meta’s policy blocks ByteDance ads, TikTok promotions and third-party campaigns linking to TikTok across eight countries, including the US, Canada and Japan, starting October 9, 2026. The company calls it a normal competitive business practice.
Meta has banned ads from TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance across its platforms in the US and several other countries, effective Thursday, October 9, 2026. The move was first reported by Bloomberg.
The ban restricts ads and paid marketing messages from ByteDance, as well as third-party ads that link to TikTok. Beyond the US, the policy also applies to Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro confirmed the policy in a statement to The Verge: “We don’t have to run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off our apps. Declining promotional services to a competitor is a normal business practice across industries. We will continue to compete on product quality and user experience.”
The decision comes as rivalry between the major social media operators continues to intensify. Although TikTok’s US operations are now controlled by a joint venture majority-owned by US-based companies, ByteDance remains a major shareholder in the platform.
For advertisers, the ban means paid campaigns promoting TikTok or originating from ByteDance can no longer run on Meta’s family of apps in the affected countries. The policy may signal a broader willingness by large platforms to restrict competitors’ access to their advertising infrastructure as competition for users and ad revenue grows.