The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a formal investigation on 30 October into whether Meta is abusing a dominant position through new commercial terms for publishers and advertisers. The terms would let Meta collect content from business websites and use it in its own products, including AI features, without giving those businesses a choice over whether or how it is used.
Meta had planned to bring the terms in on 30 October, then delayed them to 20 November, and on 28 October paused the rollout while it consults industry groups, the CMA said. The case falls under the Competition Act 1998. The CMA will first assess whether Meta is dominant in a relevant UK market, and has made no decision on whether the law has been broken.
Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said that “where a company holds a dominant position, it must not use that position to impose unfair terms.” Meta has not been designated with strategic market status under the UK’s newer digital markets regime, which the CMA says limits its powers there.
Why it matters: the case tests whether competition law, rather than copyright, can stop a platform making AI use of content a condition of doing business with it. Source: CMA.