Meta Halts ByteDance Advertising Across Facebook and Instagram in Seven Countries – BigGo Finance

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) has moved to cut off advertising from ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, across Facebook and Instagram in the United States and six other countries, a decision that deepens the rivalry between two of the world’s largest social media operators. The restriction took effect Thursday and covers Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, according to a company spokesperson.
The policy extends beyond ByteDance’s own promotional activity. It also blocks third-party advertisers from running campaigns that direct users to TikTok or other ByteDance-owned properties in those seven markets. A Meta spokesperson told Benzinga that the company would not provide promotional services to a competitor seeking to draw users away from its platforms.
Meta framed the decision as a standard competitive maneuver rather than an escalation. “We don’t have to run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off our apps,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said in a statement. “Declining promotional services to a competitor is a normal business practice across industries. We will continue to compete on product quality and user experience.”
TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The advertising ban follows a series of tit-for-tat moves between the two companies. Last month, TikTok removed dedicated Instagram links from user profiles, making it harder for users to move between platforms. TikTok users can still include links that direct visitors to other social media websites, but the platform does not support links that open or log users into competing apps.
Child Safety Settlement as Backdrop
The decision arrives just months after Meta agreed to a landmark settlement with U.S. states over allegations involving social media harms to children. The agreement, reached in August, could cost Meta up to $18 billion and required the company to introduce daily usage limits for children on Facebook and Instagram, restrict nighttime use, and strengthen safeguards against age-restricted content.
Meta has since argued that competitors should implement comparable measures rather than leave it at a competitive disadvantage. The company has publicly criticized TikTok for skipping industry discussions on the potential harms of excessive screen time and has placed ads in major newspapers demanding similar moves from rivals.
European regulators have added pressure on TikTok as well. This summer, EU authorities wrote that TikTok has not done enough to ensure minors’ safety and indicated the platform could face a fine of up to 6 percent of its annual revenue.
TikTok reached a separate settlement with Alabama in September, agreeing to new usage limits and stronger age-verification measures to resolve claims that it endangered children and misled consumers about safety.
Ownership Structure and Market Position
TikTok operates in the U.S. through a majority American-owned joint venture established to protect U.S. user data and avert a potential nationwide ban. The platform has more than 200 million users in the country.
The joint venture is 80.1 percent owned by global investors, including Oracle Corp. (ORCL), while ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake. In July, the Justice Department overturned a 2022 federal ban, allowing employees to reinstall TikTok on government-issued devices, citing reduced security risks following the creation of TikTok USDS.
Despite the ownership arrangement, TikTok remains a major competitor to Meta for users, creators, and advertising dollars. Meta faces what it views as an uneven competitive landscape: TikTok operates in the U.S., while Meta’s services remain unavailable in China, a key market for ByteDance.
The rivalry also involves Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) YouTube, which Meta has called on to adopt stronger protections for younger users. Meta’s campaign has put both TikTok and YouTube on the back foot, with government regulators and Meta itself pressuring them to follow its child safety lead.
Market Reaction and Trump’s Stock Purchase
META shares fell 0.1 percent on Thursday and were flat in overnight trading following the announcement. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained bearish for META for a second consecutive day.
Investor attention was also drawn to a report that President Donald Trump purchased up to $25 million in META shares in August, his largest reported transaction among 517 securities trades that month. According to a CNBC report on Thursday, the Aug. 21 META purchase was valued between $5 million and $25 million.
Trump’s August financial disclosure listed 517 transactions worth between $74.3 million and $273.3 million, with each transaction reported as a value range. Purchases totaled at least $44.2 million, while sales totaled at least $30.1 million.
Note: Figures reflect reported value ranges from financial disclosure documents.
What Comes Next
The advertising ban does not prevent users from accessing TikTok, and Meta has not indicated whether it will expand the restriction to additional countries. The company’s framing suggests it views the policy as a defensive measure tied to product competition rather than a regulatory or political statement.
The move nonetheless signals a hardening of Meta’s posture toward ByteDance. By cutting off ad revenue and promotional pathways, Meta is drawing a clearer line between its ecosystem and TikTok’s, even as the two platforms continue to compete for the same audiences and advertising budgets.
For advertisers, the restriction means campaigns that direct users to TikTok or other ByteDance properties in the seven affected markets will no longer run on Facebook or Instagram. That could push brands to reconsider how they allocate spending across platforms.
According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, Meta ranks in the 79th percentile for growth, with positive price trends across the short, medium, and long term.
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