Meta has announced that it is signing the European Union's Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content, following a similar commitment from Google four days earlier. Meta confirmed its decision on 28 July 2026, while Google published its announcement on 24 July.
The voluntary code is intended to help organisations comply with transparency requirements under Article 50 of the EU AI Act. Those legal obligations begin applying on 2 August 2026, bringing new expectations around identifying AI interactions, marking synthetic content and labelling certain deepfakes and AI-generated publications.
What the EU transparency rules cover
The European Commission's code of practice separates responsibilities between providers, which develop or supply AI systems, and deployers, which use them professionally.
Providers of relevant AI systems are expected to make generated or manipulated text, audio, images and video detectable through machine-readable marking, where technically feasible. Providers must also ensure people are told when they are interacting directly with an AI system, such as a customer-service chatbot, unless the interaction is already obvious from the circumstances.
Deployers have different responsibilities. They may need to disclose when people are exposed to deepfakes or to AI-generated text about matters of public interest where there has been no human review or editorial control. The rules do not mean that every piece of content touched by AI automatically needs a prominent label. The Commission's Article 50 guidelines include exceptions and examples intended to clarify what falls inside and outside the scope.
Signing the code is optional. The underlying transparency obligations are not. Organisations that choose not to sign can use other measures, but must be able to demonstrate that those measures provide an adequate route to compliance.
Meta and Google support a common approach
In its 28 July announcement, Meta pointed to its existing work on identifying AI-generated media and its involvement with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, an industry initiative developing standards for recording how digital content was created or changed.
Google's 24 July statement referred to its SynthID watermarking technology and work to support broader, interoperable marking standards.
Both companies backed the aim of helping people understand when content has been generated or manipulated using AI. They also raised concerns that overlapping labels and disclosures could confuse users if different platforms and regulators adopt inconsistent approaches. Their decision to join the EU code supports a shared framework, although practical implementation will still depend on the type of content, the organisation's role and how the technology is being used.
What UK businesses may need to consider
The announcement is not relevant only to large AI developers. A UK organisation may come within the EU rules where an in-scope AI system is placed on the EU market or put into service there. The position will vary between businesses, so organisations with EU-facing services should establish which role they occupy rather than assuming that using a third-party AI product leaves all responsibility with the supplier.
Public-facing uses deserve particular attention. These could include AI chatbots, synthetic campaign imagery, manipulated video, automated publications and tools that generate content on a business's behalf. Companies may need to understand what marking their suppliers add, when a clear disclosure is required and whether human editorial review changes the position.
The distinction between assistance and automation matters. Using AI to help draft copy that is then checked and approved by a person is not necessarily treated in the same way as publishing unreviewed AI output about a matter of public interest. Similarly, an ordinary edited image is not automatically a deepfake simply because AI tools were involved.
Meta and Google's announcements arrive only days before Article 50 begins to apply. For businesses using AI in customer journeys or published content, the immediate task is to identify where AI appears publicly, confirm how those systems communicate their use and obtain appropriate advice where the EU scope is uncertain.
