UK competition watchdog investigates Meta's terms for using publishers' content in AI - MLQ.ai
By Google News Investigations ·
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether Meta is abusing a dominant position by imposing exploitative terms on publishers and advertisers [1]. The CMA opened the case on October 30 under the Competition Act 1998; The Wall Street Journal reported on the probe on November 6 [1][3]. The regulator said the revised terms could let Meta collect content from the websites of businesses that use its services and use it to build its own products, including AI features, without giving those businesses a choice [1].
Meta first planned to introduce the terms on October 30, pushed them to November 20 after talks with the CMA, and on October 28 paused the rollout pending consultation with industry groups [1]. The CMA acted on concerns raised by the News Media Association and Movement for an Open Web [1].
The investigation will first assess whether Meta holds a dominant position in a relevant UK market and, if it does, whether the terms abuse it [1]. The CMA has not decided whether Meta broke the law and set no deadline [1]. "Where a company holds a dominant position, it must not use that position to impose unfair terms," CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said [1].
Meta said there were "no grounds" for the investigation and that it had "already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders" [2]. News Media Association chief executive Theo Bamber said Meta had given publishers "an invidious choice of giving away their content for free to power its AI products" [4].
The terms face challenges elsewhere in Europe. A Norwegian court temporarily barred Meta from enforcing them after 10 media outlets sued, and Meta lost an appeal in France against orders to negotiate with news publishers [2]. Separately from the…
Originally published by Google News Investigations
