UK and EU competition watchdogs launch twin antitrust inquiries into Facebook over platform’s use of ad data
Facebook will be investigated by UK and EU competition regulators for allegedly using information from its advertisers to make unfair profits from competitors, authorities in both areas have announced.
The European Commission said on Friday it had launched a formal investigation to protect whether the social media giant had violated the rules of the webloc competition by using ad information to take advantage.
The investigation will also examine whether the company links its separate online advertising service ‘Facebook Marketplace’ to its social network, which the Commission said would be "a violation of EU competition rules."
Meanwhile, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said it will also refer to the Facebook Marketplace, as well as Facebook Dating, a platform-based service, which it launched in Europe in 2020.
Responding to the announcements on Friday, a Facebook spokesman said "The company's Marketplace and Dating offers people a lot of options and both products operate in a highly competitive environment with a lot of people in positions of responsibility."
"We will continue to co-operate fully with the investigation to show that they are not responsible," he added.
Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for Competition, said Facebook collects "huge troops" of data from its three billion users a month and nearly seven million companies advertising their operations in the region.
The commission said its investigation would investigate potential conflicts between advertisers on the social networking site Facebook and its Marketplace service.
Initial inquiries have already raised "concerns that Facebook may disrupt competition" by using advertiser data to help its Market service win them over, the EU executive committee said.
Andrea Coscelli, head of the CMA, said the British regulator "would thoroughly investigate Facebook's data use to see if its business practices offer unfair advantages in online communications."
He adds that such practices can make it “difficult for competing companies to succeed” and “reduce customer choice.”
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