Social media giant Meta Platforms has offered to not use competitors’ advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace service to address the UK competition watchdog’s concerns.
In June 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) initiated an investigation into arrangements that potentially allow Meta to access ad data from businesses using its advertising services.
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The data could be used by Meta to enhance its offerings, thus competing with those advertising customers, the regulator said.
According to the CMA, Meta has committed to allowing advertisers to opt out of their advertising data being used to develop or improve Facebook Marketplace, a service that allows users to buy and sell items.
The US-based giant aims to achieve this by “implementing technical systems” to prevent the use of data from advertisers who have chosen not the share their data.
CMA executive director of enforcement Michael Grenfell said: “Where we identify potential competition concerns about a company’s practices or conduct, we look to see how our powers can be best used to have a positive impact on the market.
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By GlobalData“Reducing the risk of Meta unfairly exploiting the data of businesses who advertise on its platform for its own competitive advantage could help many UK businesses who advertise there. We are now consulting on these commitments which we believe, at this stage, will address our concerns.”
The regulator is yet to accept Meta’s commitments, with the consultation period set to close on 26 June 2023.
