Meta has banned advertisements from TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance across the United States and several other countries, a move that tightens the rivalry between the two social media operators. The restriction took effect on Thursday and covers ads and paid marketing messages from ByteDance, as well as third-party advertisements that link to TikTok.
Christopher Sgro, a Meta spokesperson, told The Verge that the company does not have to run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off its apps. Sgro described declining promotional services to a competitor as a normal business practice across industries. Bloomberg first reported on the ban.
The decision marks a specific escalation in the commercial relationship between the two platforms, which compete for user attention and advertising revenue. By blocking ByteDance's promotional spend, Meta is actively limiting the visibility of TikTok within its own network. This move aligns with broader competitive dynamics in the social media sector, where companies increasingly view each other's growth as a direct threat to their own market share.