Bundeskartellamt’s Post

Whoever wants to combine data from different sources on the basis of legitimate interest should have a closer look at the latest conclusion by BKartA of the infamous BKart/Meta case[..] You can find the detailed summary/case report by BKartA that describes Meta ´s measures here: https://lnkd.in/exXgr8Tw

With this decision, Meta implemented options to give choice to users on how their personal data are combined on the service. At least the minimum now will be done, allowing the users to be free to decide how their data will be used.

The #Meta saga may have come to an end, but the impact of the Court of Justice of the European Union's landmark decision in the Bundeskartellamt vs Meta (case C-252/21) will endure. The CJEU found that compliance with the #GDPR could be a key factor in determining whether a specific conduct hinders the maintenance or growth of competition in a market (para 47), indicating that GDPR #compliance may be relevant for evaluating how conduct affects competition. By expanding the doctrine of ‘special responsibility’ to include data protection obligations, the German NCA brought data protection and competition laws closer together. This reflects the growing recognition that protecting data privacy is crucial not only to uphold individual rights, but also to ensure competition based on the merits.

My non-Thanksgiving EU post for today 😊 💡 Meta has been fined nearly 800 million euros ($844.6 million) by Brussels after regulators accused Facebook’s parent company of stifling competition by “tying” its free Marketplace services with the social network. ✅ The EU’s outgoing competition chief, said last week that by linking Facebook with its classified ads service - Meta had “imposed unfair trading conditions” on other providers. ✅ Meta's response: “The European Commission’s decision provides no evidence of competitive harm to rivals or any harm to consumers.” ✅ This is one of the final investigations overseen by the competition chief, who is set to leave the commission in the next few weeks after a decade of antitrust enforcement against Big Tech. ✅ In the past five years, EU regulators have also passed the Digital Markets Act—with the aim to slow down dominant tech players and boost the local tech industry. ✅ Many observers expect the new commission -- which is set to start a new 5-year term in weeks -- to strike a more conciliatory tone over fears of retaliation from the incoming Trump administration.

Meta winds down Facebook News Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is discontinuing its #FacebookNews feature in the #UnitedStates and #Australia. The company has declared that the news tab will be "deprecated" in both countries beginning next month. This means that news will still be available on the site, but #Facebook will not enter into any new deals with publishers in the future. The decision comes as governments in several countries urge #Meta to compensate publishers for their articles displayed on Facebook. According to Meta, the number of Facebook News users in the United States and Australia has decreased by 80% over the last year. In Canada, Meta terminated the news feature last year after the federal government passed a law requiring tech companies to pay content fees to publishers. #MetaUpdate #DigitalMarketing #SocialMediaTrends #AdvertisingStrategy #ContentMarketing Activate

The Oversight Board rebuked Meta Platforms (META) for the loopholes in its manipulated media policy after a video featuring U.S. President Joe Biden as a pedophile was not removed from the social media platform claiming that it does not violate the company's current rules. The Board said that it finds the current policy "to be incoherent, lacking in persuasive justification and inappropriately focused on how content has been created, rather than on which specific harms it aims to prevent". "The policy should not treat 'deep fakes' differently to content altered in other ways," the Board suggested. "Meta needs to provide greater clarity on and needs to make revisions quickly, given the record number of elections in 2024." The current manipulated media policy of the parent company of Facebook exempts parody and satire and slightly edited videos which omit or change the order of words said in a video. Also, it doesn't apply to manipulated audio. ..... ✍️

📰 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔: 𝑨 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒊𝒏 Meta 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚 📰 In 2019, Facebook's News tab made headlines with multi-million dollar content deals for publishers, aiming to support journalism and democracy. Fast forward to April 2024, Meta announces the sunset of Facebook News in the US and Australia, ceasing new commercial news deals and products. This move follows Meta's 2022 pivot towards the Creator economy and the departure of Campbell Brown, former head of news partnerships. While Facebook News initially aimed to enhance users' News Feeds, the company now emphasizes that news constitutes less than 3% of the Facebook experience globally. Meta encourages publishers to redirect their efforts by posting links on their pages, leveraging products like Reels and ads to drive traffic to their own websites, signaling a departure from direct financial support to news outlets. In the US, the end of licensing deals is not new, having dropped them two years ago. However, in Australia, this move means the conclusion of annual payments totaling $70 million to outlets like Sky News Australia, News Corp, Seven, Nine, and The Guardian. These deals, formed under Australia's News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, are set to expire after a three-year run. This decision comes after a power struggle in 2021, where Australia amended its laws, leading to a temporary news ban by Facebook. The platform similarly blocked news in Canada last year over a comparable legislative dispute. As Facebook News bids adieu, Meta reorients its focus, acknowledging the evolving landscape and user preferences. The future holds a shift towards short-form video content and new opportunities for publishers to engage audiences beyond the Facebook platform. #Meta #FacebookNews #DigitalTransformation #News #Change #Facebook Source:https://lnkd.in/gtymRiTC

Yesterday (August 20), the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted Meta’s proposals to modify its commitments regarding the use of advertising customers’ data. Key Highlights: - Original Commitments: Meta had initially committed to limiting the use of advertising customers' data to prevent gaining an unfair advantage, allowing competitors of Facebook Marketplace to opt out of their data being used to improve Facebook Marketplace. - Revised Approach: The updated commitments provide Meta with an alternative way to implement data controls, ensuring that advertisers can place ads on Facebook Marketplace without concerns about their data being used to enhance the platform, and without needing to opt in or out. - Consultation and Acceptance: After consulting with advertisers and users of Facebook Marketplace, the CMA determined that the new approach exceeds the original commitments and does not disadvantage any advertisers, leading to the acceptance of the proposed changes. This move highlights the CMA’s ongoing efforts to ensure fair competition in the digital advertising space. Discover the power of cutting-edge legal intelligence. Subscribe now and unlock a wealth of knowledge that keeps you at the forefront of your industry with Global Regulatory Insights. Link: https://lnkd.in/gZmkUPim #CMA #Meta #DigitalAdvertising #DataPrivacy #CompetitionLaw #GRI

Meta slashes EU Facebook and Instagram subscription fees by 40% to meet regional regulatory demands Meta cut the price of its ad-free subscription versions of Facebook and Instagram by 40% for European Union users to comply with regulatory demands in the region. The social media company will also offer EU users access to Facebook and Instagram for free if they agree to be shown ads based on a limited set of user data #socialmedia #meta #facebook #instagram #europe #EU #advertising #data #bigdata #technology #tech

Last Friday, a German regional court found that Meta has infringed #competition law by abusively blocking a business user’s #Facebook account without prior or immediate justification and consultation afterwards. In 2021, Meta blocked the Facebook account of the plaintiff, an association for the promotion of culture, for alleged violations of common usage policies. While no explanation was given, shortly before the blocking, the plaintiff had published a photo of an indigenous people that Facebook's algorithms had apparently misinterpreted as ‘nudity’. The Court found that Meta’s conduct constituted an abuse of dominance in the market for social networks. The blocking of the user account distorted competition as it adversely impacted the plaintiff’s ability, compared to other associations, to communicate via Facebook. Regardless of the merits of the underlying usage policies, the blocking could not be justified as Meta had failed to provide a clear, specific and comprehensive explanation that would have enabled the plaintiff to take remedies. The need for such explanation followed, indirectly, from the requirements set out in the EU Platform-to-Business (#P2B) Regulation as well as the Digital Services Act (#DSA) as relevant market-related provisions. The court also counted (i) the imbalance of powers between the parties, (ii) the high social significance of the network service, and (iii) the plaintiff’s freedom of art and expression as relevant factors in the weighing of interests. The judgment marks another victory for the Hausfeld competition litigation team. Congratulations to Ann-Christin Richter, Philipp Westerhoff and Christopher Unseld, who successfully brought the case. It forms part of our ongoing support of the NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V., who backed the initiative. (Attached is an English courtesy translation of the judgment, followed by the original German version.)