UK's CMA opens investigation into Meta's terms for publishers and advertisers

​Britain's competition regulator on ‌Friday said ​it has opened an investigation into whether Meta was imposing exploitative terms on publishers ‌and advertisers to use their content to develop its own services, including its AI features.

The CMA said Facebook parent Meta's ‌commercial terms could allow it to collect content from publishers' ‌websites and use it to develop and provide its own products and services without businesses getting a choice on if or how their content ⁠is ​used. The watchdog ⁠said that the terms, which it said Meta planned to revise on ⁠November 20 but has since put on hold, could amount to ​an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions.

The CMA's investigation ⁠will determine whether Meta holds a dominant position in a relevant UK ⁠market ​and, if so, whether the terms amount to abuse of that position. Meta said there were "no grounds" for an ⁠investigation.

"We've already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers ⁠and other ⁠stakeholders," a Meta spokesperson said. "We welcome the opportunity to explain our approach to the CMA."