Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether the Facebook parent company imposed exploitative trading conditions on businesses using its network. Regulators are concerned that commercial terms enable the tech giant to harvest external web content to develop proprietary products, including artificial intelligence capabilities, without providing companies an opt-out choice. Meta had previously prepared to implement revisions to these contested terms on November 20 before pausing the rollout. Investigators are now focused on assessing if the company holds a dominant UK market share and abused that standing.
Key points
Regulators are scrutinizing tech platforms over the unauthorized use of publisher content…: Regulators are scrutinizing tech platforms over the unauthorized use of publisher content for internal product development.
Companies face potential antitrust violations if commercial rules are found to unlawfully…: Companies face potential antitrust violations if commercial rules are found to unlawfully impose unfair trading conditions.
Demonstrating a dominant UK market position is the critical legal threshold for establish…: Demonstrating a dominant UK market position is the critical legal threshold for establishing an abuse of power.
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LONDON, Oct 30 : Britain's competition regulator on Friday said it has opened an investigation into whether Meta was imposing exploitative terms on publishers and advertisers to use their content to develop its own services, including its AI features.
The CMA said Facebook parent Meta's commercial terms could allow it to collect content from publishers' websites and use it to develop and provide its own products and services without businesses getting a choice on if or how their content is used.
The watchdog said that the terms, which it said Meta planned to revise on November 20 but has since put on hold, could amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions.
The CMA's investigation will determine whether Meta holds a dominant position in a relevant UK market and, if so, whether the terms amount to abuse of that position.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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