Facebook and Instagram in the sights of the French Competition Authority. The latter on Thursday pronounced precautionary measures against Meta, the parent company of the two social networks, because of practices “likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position” in the field of advertising verification. These measures, which will remain in force until the publication of a decision on the merits, are the result of a referral in October 2022 from the French company Adloox, which specializes in measuring the visibility of online advertisements.
Among the measures pronounced, Meta will have to suspend the application of its current eligibility criteria and make public new criteria for access to its partnerships which are “objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate”, and “facilitate the integration of ‘Adloox to its partnerships’. According to the authority, the “conditions of access” to two partnership programs offered by Meta “were likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position and seriously and immediately harm both the interests of Adloox and the independent advertising verification”.
Meta not transparent enough
The players in this market access data from the major social platforms and guarantee to advertisers that the advertisements are actually seen by Internet users, in a context that does not damage the image of the brand. World leader in social networks, “Meta does not publish the criteria for access to its partnerships” and, assuming that they are “transparent, they could be considered as barriers to entry” due in particular to their complexity, declared the president of the Authority Benoît Coeuré during a press conference.
” The refusal [de Meta] to bring Adloox into its programs since 2016 is potentially discriminatory” and had consequences, including a loss of customers, “a sharp drop in turnover” and a payroll cut in half, he added. The authority also justified these emergency measures by the upcoming arrival of the European Regulation on digital markets (DMA) which includes new obligations in the field of competition for major web players.
The regulation “will potentially allow within a few months an opening and development of the market” of advertising verification, in particular for the benefit of the smallest players, explained Benoît Coeuré. “It’s important that the competitive landscape is competitive and open when the DMA comes into effect a year from now. […] We are not going to lift our pencil in the meantime, ”he said.