The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into whether Meta is imposing exploitative terms on news publishers and other content businesses. The probe is examining whether the Facebook and Instagram parent company is abusing its dominant market position by allowing it to use media content for its own products, including AI features, without providing publishers adequate choice. The CMA stated the investigation will determine if the company's terms and conditions unfairly harm news publishers and advertisers.
The investigation follows a plan by Meta to introduce new terms on November 20, a move the company has since put on hold. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the regulator is acting swiftly to investigate whether the proposed changes may breach competition law after hearing concerns from various businesses. Thousands of UK companies rely on Meta's platforms to reach audiences, raising concerns that unfair terms could violate competition regulations.
Meta has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the regulator. A spokesperson for the company said, "we've already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders," and added that the company welcomes the opportunity to explain its approach to the CMA.
This regulatory action follows significant legal and industrial pushback against Meta's data collection practices across Europe. In France, the Paris Appeals Court recently rejected Meta's attempt to overturn an order to negotiate in good faith with media outlets regarding rights payments for information used on its social networks. The court found that Meta's conduct had caused "serious and immediate harm to the press sector" and noted that the company had provided only fragmentary and opaque data during negotiations.
In other jurisdictions, media organizations have taken direct action to protect their intellectual property. Since May, more than 340 local and national news sites, including the Guardian, the New York Times, and USA Today, have blocked internet archive crawler bots to prevent the collection of data for training AI models. Additionally, a Norwegian court recently issued a temporary ban on Meta enforcing new user terms following arguments from ten media outlets that the terms threatened their content rights.
