Meta blocks TikTok advertising on Facebook and Instagram in seven countries

Meta has barred all advertising placed by ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, from appearing on Facebook and Instagram in the United States and six other countries, the sharpest commercial strike yet in a rivalry that has been inflamed by litigation over harm to children.

The restriction took effect on Thursday 8 October, covering adverts and paid marketing messages in the US, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, according to Meta. It also catches third-party advertisers whose campaigns link to TikTok or other ByteDance properties in those markets. For families following the child-safety cases, it shows how far the rivalry is now driven by the youth-protection terms Meta agreed with US states in August, terms it wants rivals to match.

Chris Sgro, a Meta spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the company did not have to carry advertising for a competitor whose goal was to pull people off its apps. He called declining a rival's promotional business ordinary practice in every industry, and said Meta would keep competing on product quality and user experience.

TikTok and ByteDance, which reports say still controls key parts of TikTok's US operations, did not respond immediately to requests for comment. The restriction was first reported early on Thursday.

A rivalry reshaped by a settlement

The rivalry sharpened in August, when Meta announced a settlement with US state attorneys general on 26 August: at least £9.2 billion (US$12.1 billion), rising to up to £13.0 billion (US$17.1 billion) according to the New York Attorney General (Meta and Reuters put the maximum at about £13.6 billion, or US$18 billion). Under the deal, Meta committed to daily time limits and restricted night-time access for minors on Facebook and Instagram.

Since then Meta has pressed TikTok and YouTube, owned by Google, to commit to matching measures, saying it cannot fix industry-wide child-safety problems alone. TikTok has stayed publicly silent, which reports say has deepened the tension.

After the settlement, Meta placed adverts in major newspapers to escalate its campaign. Its executives also criticised TikTok for missing a recent event held by the Office of the Surgeon General on harms from excessive screen use, and for withdrawing from a meeting with the House Select Committee on China.

TikTok's own walls

TikTok has made defensive moves of its own. Last month it changed its app to make it harder for users to migrate to rivals, including removing Instagram links from user profiles. It also rejected Meta adverts that demanded TikTok promise comparable child-safety concessions.

TikTok's own website states that it does not allow links that open other social media apps or sign in to them, though users may post profile links pointing to those platforms' websites. The arrangement has been described as TikTok fencing off its own video ecosystem from competitors.

In September, TikTok concluded a deal with the state of Alabama under which it committed to new time limits and improved age-verification systems, closing lawsuits that accused the platform of endangering minors and misleading consumers about its safety. The agreement was centred on better age checks.

In the US, TikTok operates through a joint venture with majority American ownership, designed to protect local users' data and head off a government ban on an app with more than 200 million users. The imbalance is plain: TikTok can operate in Meta's most important market, the US, while Meta cannot operate in China, TikTok's most crucial market.

Other consumer technology firms have had similar friction with rivals over advertising. A report in September said OpenAI had told its advertising partners it would not accept ads from image and audio generation products that compete with its own.

Background: the wider litigation

The dispute lands amid a run of US cases over social media and harm to the young. On 25 March 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta, over Instagram, and Google, over YouTube, liable in the case of a young woman identified as K.G.M. A trial of two further personal injury plaintiffs against Meta, YouTube and Snap is set to begin in Los Angeles on 28 October 2026; a second trial had been due in July, but TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube settled with the plaintiff. The first school-district test case, brought by a county school district in Kentucky against Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, settled before a trial that had been set for June 2026; agreements later released under a public-records request were reported to total about US$27 million. The next test trials, for Tucson Unified and Charleston County school districts, are due to begin in 2027.