By Roman Aglaganov
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation on 30 October into whether Meta’s commercial terms for businesses break competition law. At issue is whether news publishers and other companies that use Meta’s platforms to reach audiences are being forced to let Meta use their content for its own products.
What the CMA is looking at
According to the regulator, Meta’s revised terms could allow it to collect content from the websites of businesses and publishers that use its services, and then use it to develop its own products, “including its AI features – without those businesses getting a choice on if or how their content is used.” The CMA says that requiring publishers to accept this could “amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions for thousands of UK businesses”.
The case is being run under the Competition Act 1998, which the CMA chose so it could act urgently after complaints from groups including the News Media Association and the Movement for an Open Web. It will first assess whether Meta holds a dominant position in a UK market, and then whether its terms abuse that position. The act also lets the CMA impose interim measures if temporary action is needed to prevent serious harm.
A moving target
Meta had planned to introduce the new terms on 30 October, pushed that back to 20 November after talks with the CMA, and on 28 October paused the roll-out pending a consultation with industry groups. A Meta spokesman said, as reported by BritBrief: “There are no grounds for a competition investigation. We’ve already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders. We welcome the opportunity to explain our approach to the CMA.”
The CMA stresses that no decision has been made on whether Meta has broken the law. Separately, it is asking Meta for information about Meta One, a new business subscription, after small firms raised concerns about having to pay to post external links on Facebook and Instagram. That question falls outside the new case.
Why it matters
Most fights over AI and news have been about copyright. This one is about bargaining power: whether a platform that publishers depend on for readers can make access to its tools conditional on handing over their work for AI. That argument could travel well beyond Meta.
