European Union Antitrust Regulators Say To Charge Against Facebook’s Main Meta for Use of Customer Data
EU antitrust regulators are bringing charges against Facebook’s parent Meta for using customer data and tying its classified advertising service to its social network, acquaintances familiar with the matter said, requested anonymity. The European Commission, can fine up to 10% of a company’s global revenue for antitrust violations, and Meta declined to comment.
The commission started an investigation into the social media company last June. The UK’s competition authority also started an investigation on the same day.
In recent months, the Commission has requested Meta competitors to remove confidential information from their submissions to the regulator. It is typically a precursor to the Commission sending companies under investigation a statement of objection detailing what the Commission considers anticompetitive behavior.
Meta’s classified advertising business is called Facebook Market was launched in 2016 and is used in 70 countries to buy and sell items.
Politico is the first report an impending protest statement.
On Tuesday, the European Commission speak that EU regulators want broader rules that define companies’ market power, with more weight given to innovation and dictate what a digital market is. The move is driven in part by the growing power of the tech giants.
The rules, known as EU market identification notices, date back to 1997 and help regulators measure a company’s pricing power in mergers or its power to weed out competitors in an antitrust lawsuit.
This information can help managers decide whether to ask a company for concessions. Business and academia in recent years have criticized EU antitrust laws as inadequate, especially in relation to mergers by US tech giants and market power. .
© Thomson Reuters 2022
