From 1 July 2026, Meta began charging advertisers a location fee on ads shown to people in six countries: 2 percent in the United Kingdom, 3 percent in France, Italy and Spain, and 5 percent in Austria and Turkey. Reuters reported the change in March 2026. Meta said it had absorbed these costs until then, and was now responding to regulation and to what the rest of the industry already does.
The fee is not a tax Meta collects for governments. It is Meta passing on the cost of digital services taxes, and some other government levies, that those countries charge on its advertising revenue.
How the fee works
- It depends on where the audience is, not where the advertiser is based. An ad bought by a Dubai company and shown to people in London carries the UK fee.
- It applies to image and video ads, and, according to Reuters, to WhatsApp click-to-message campaigns and marketing messages sent with ads.
- It sits outside the campaign budget and appears as its own line on the invoice or billing statement, not in the campaign's spend in Ads Manager.
- VAT is charged on top of the full amount. MediaPost gave the example that 100 dollars of ads delivered in Italy costs 103 dollars, plus VAT on the 103.
- Meta's help page says the list of countries and rates can change.
Does it affect ads in the Gulf?
Not directly. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are not on the list, and an ad shown only to people in the Gulf carries no location fee. But many Gulf clients advertise abroad: property developers selling to buyers in London, hotels and airlines reaching Europe, universities recruiting internationally. For them, every dirham of spend that reaches the six countries now costs 2 to 5 percent more than the budget shows.
Google has done this for years
Meta was late to this, not early. Google Ads has charged similar fees since 2020, based on where ads are served, and its current rates differ slightly from Meta's:
- United Kingdom: 2 percent, since November 2020.
- Austria: 5 percent, since November 2020.
- France: 2 percent, since May 2021.
- Spain: 3 percent, and Italy 2.5 percent, both since July 2024.
- Turkey: 4.5 percent since January 2026, down from 7 percent.
Google's fees for Canada and India have ended. Amazon also charges regulatory advertising fees based on where its ads are shown, without publishing its rates in the same way.
What to change in the agency's process
- Media plans: when a campaign reaches any of the six countries, show the fee as a separate line so the client sees the full cost before approving it.
- Quotes and contracts: say whether platform fees and taxes are passed through at cost, and that they are charged on top of the media budget.
- Reconciliation: match the invoice, not the Ads Manager spend, to what the client is billed. The fee will not appear in campaign reports.
- Reporting: decide whether cost per result includes the fee, and say so, especially when comparing Meta with Google for the same market.
- VAT: make sure the client's TRN or VAT number is on the ad account, since VAT is charged on the fee as well as the media.
Why it matters more than it looks
Two to five percent is small on one campaign and significant across a year, especially for agencies that bill media at cost plus a management fee. If the fee is absorbed by mistake, it comes straight out of the margin. If it is passed on without warning, it looks like an overcharge. Neither is a good conversation in December.
Wiro's invoicing keeps the client's tax details on the client record and lets an agency show media, platform fees and its own fee as separate lines. The free quotation generator on this site does the same for a one-off quote.
