The French antimonopoly regulator has opened an investigation into the Meta company due to suspicion of abuse of its dominant position in the online advertising market. The company has already been officially notified of the violation. About this informs Reuters.
The regulator clarified that the start of the investigation is not evidence of the company’s guilt, and the procedure itself may last several months. The reason for the investigation was a complaint filed in October 2022 by the Adloox platform, which specializes in verifying digital advertising. Subsequently, it was acquired by the American private company Scope3.
This is not the first complaint against Meta in France: in April, several media companies, including TF1, France TV and BFM TV, went to court, accusing Meta of unfair business practices. In addition, Meta faces a trial in Spain in October. There, the company must respond to a lawsuit filed by more than 80 media organizations demanding compensation of €551 million, accusing Meta of violating the rules of fair competition in the advertising market.
It will be recalled that in April, the European Commission first applied fines under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), designed to limit the influence of large technology companies. Meta was then fined €200 million, and Apple €500 million.
The regulator accused Apple of creating obstacles for app developers trying to inform users about discounts and other good offers. In addition, the companies issued a preliminary ruling due to restrictions on access to alternative app stores on Apple devices.
Meta, in turn, broke the law by implementing a pay-or-opt model where users are asked to either agree to the use of their personal data for personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription fee to use Facebook and Instagram without ads.
