UK watchdog investigates Meta over new content terms for media publishers

Britain's competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has opened an investigation into Meta over new terms for media publishers, Euronews reported on October 30. The watchdog is examining whether the tech company is imposing exploitative rules that allow it to use publisher content for its own products, including artificial intelligence, without giving media organisations adequate choice. [1]

According to Euronews, the regulator said the proposed terms could amount to an abuse of Meta's dominant position in the market. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, had planned to introduce the new rules on November 20 but has since put them on hold. [1]

Meta Platforms is an American technology company based in Menlo Park, California, that operates major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. Advertising forms the primary revenue stream for the company, accounting for 97.8 percent of its total revenue in 2023. [2]

The probe comes amid other recent legal challenges for the social media corporation. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Meta and Snap are facing a trial in Los Angeles over alleged harms to young users, while health creators have previously reported that Instagram restricted accounts for posting basic terms related to women's health. [3][4]