Meta’s European Ad Revenue Slows After EU Requires Less-Personalized Ads Option
EU ad revenue growth fell to 18% year-on-year in the three months through September, from roughly 24% the prior quarter, while US and Canada growth reached 33%. Meta’s EU less-personalized ads option uses 90% less data and followed a €200 million DMA fine.
Meta’s advertising revenue in Europe has decelerated since the company introduced a less-personalized ads option for EU users at the start of 2026, the company disclosed in its third-quarter earnings briefing on Wednesday, October 22.
European ad revenue grew 18 percent year-on-year in the three months through September — down from roughly 24 percent the prior quarter and well behind the 33 percent growth recorded in the US and Canada. By comparison, US and Canada growth had accelerated from 30 to 31 percent over the same period.
Meta began offering Instagram and Facebook users in the EU a Less-Personalized Ads (LPA) option at the beginning of 2026, following a ruling by EU regulators that the company had breached its Digital Markets Act obligation to provide consumers with an equivalent service using less of their personal data. Regulators also issued a €200 million fine. A previous measure Meta introduced in November 2023 — charging EU users who declined personalized ads for an ad-free service — was found by the European Commission not to satisfy this requirement.
The LPA model uses 90 percent less data than standard personalized ads, relying instead on in-session browsing behavior alongside basic signals such as age, location, and gender. Meta had warned in its response to the EU ruling that less-personalized ads lead to poorer advertiser returns, fewer transactions, and more ads being dismissed as irrelevant or repetitive. Wednesday’s results showed that the price advertisers were willing to pay per ad in Europe is growing more slowly than in the US and Canada.
Meta chief financial officer Susan Li had flagged the issue in July, saying the company was “seeing the impact of less personalized ads offering in Europe now that it’s fully rolled out.” On Wednesday, she said Meta has “a lot of runway” to improve ad conversions through enhancements to its recommendation engine. Dominic Ball, equity research director at Rothschild & Co Redburn, told WIRED he believes Meta could use AI to improve targeting in Europe despite working with fewer data signals.
Li also noted high commercial intent among users of Meta’s recently launched personal AI agent, Muse, suggesting the company may eventually extend its advertising reach through that product. Meta does not disclose how many EU users have selected each ads option.