The antitrust authority in France has accused Meta of a potential breach of competition laws in the online advertising market. In a statement that was shared recently, the regulator accused Meta of exploiting its dominant position by limiting access to ad verification partnerships for ads it sells under allegedly opaque, discriminatory, and unfair terms.
The notification, formally known as a statement of objections, does not determine the outcome of the probe. Meta will be given enough time to respond and defend itself, the agency added. A Meta spokesperson in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
France notifies Meta of its breach of competition laws
Media firms in France, including TF1, France TV, and BFM TV, have sued Meta over allegedly illegal business methods, the law firms acting on their behalf said. This comes after a group of 67 media companies, which represent 200 publications, had filed a case in the Paris business tribunal court in April.
These media companies claimed that Meta’s leading position in the digital advertising market was largely due to illegal activities such as massive personal data collection and the utilization of targeted advertising. The company will also face trial this October in Spain over a 551 million euro complaint, equivalent to a $582 million complaint lodged by more than 80 media companies accusing it of unfair competition in advertising.
In addition, other companies have raised complaints against Meta. In February, online rights activists lodged complaints in Europe over Meta’s ad practices, and earlier on, EU antitrust regulators fined Meta and Apple for what they said were breaches of EU law. The media groups in France are represented in the Paris case by US law firm Scott+Scott and French law firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier.
The case is not only between the company and the television companies involved, with firms like Figaro, Lagardere, L’Express, La Depeche, Liberation, Radio France, and Centre France also involved. Meanwhile, Alphabet’s Google is also embroiled in a legal fight with Texas and a handful of other states that now threatens to lead to a possible confrontation that might end up costing the company more than $100 billion in fines because it enforced a digital advertising monopoly.
Both sides made dueling demands on Tuesday, July 8, to US District Judge Sean Jordan in the federal court in Plano, Texas. They asked to restrict certain information that jurors can access during the trial, set for Aug. 11, such as potential payments to the states and Google’s financial condition. In 2020, Google was also found guilty of the same scandal. Texas and more than a dozen other US states filed a suit against Google, claiming the company illegally owned advertising markets and violated rules that guard against deceptive business practices.
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