Meta has barred advertising for TikTok and other ByteDance services on its platforms in the United States and six other countries, Bloomberg reported. The restriction also applies to third-party advertisers running campaigns that link to ByteDance products.
The countries are the United States, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said the company was not obliged to accept advertising from a competitor seeking to draw users away from its platforms.
The restriction is the latest development in the rivalry between Meta and TikTok. Bloomberg reported that in August Meta reached agreements with officials in several U.S. states on new features to protect minors on Facebook and Instagram, after which it urged TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar measures.
In September, TikTok removed direct links to Instagram from user profiles and rejected Meta’s demands for additional child-safety commitments. Meta executives also criticized TikTok’s absence from an event organized by the U.S. surgeon general’s office on excessive device use and from a national-security meeting with the House Select Committee on China.
Meta is designated as an extremist organization and banned in Russia. Facebook and Instagram belong to the company. Meta did not provide additional details about the timing of the restrictions in the statement cited.