Meta faces a UK competition investigation into terms that could let it take content from business and publisher websites for its own products, including AI features, without giving those businesses control over that use. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened the case today to determine whether those conditions breach competition law. Meta has paused the planned changes while it consults industry groups.
The CMA’s concern centers on businesses having to accept the conditions to use Meta’s services, which they depend on to connect with customers and audiences. The regulator says the requirements could impose unfair trading conditions on thousands of UK businesses, including news publishers and other companies producing content. Its investigation will establish whether Meta has market dominance in the UK and whether the terms constitute an abuse of that power.
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Meta initially intended to change its commercial terms today, then moved implementation to November 20 after discussions with the CMA. On October 28, Meta said it would suspend the rollout pending consultation with industry groups. That pause has not prevented the CMA from opening an investigation under the Competition Act 1998.
The CMA has reached no finding that Meta violated the law. It will collect and evaluate evidence from the company and third parties affected by the terms. The regulator is responding to concerns raised by stakeholders that include the News Media Association and Movement for an Open Web (MOW).
The CMA is separately asking Meta for information about Meta One, its new subscription offering for businesses. The Federation of Small Businesses has raised concerns about how small businesses could be affected when posting external links on Facebook and Instagram without a paid subscription. Those issues are outside the competition investigation opened today, and the CMA has yet to decide whether to pursue formal action on them.
Platform restrictions also drew scrutiny in Switzerland in July, when the Competition Commission began a preliminary investigation into Google’s withdrawal of Android’s default search selection screen there. Google had retained that setup choice across the European Economic Area, while Swiss users could no longer choose an alternative search engine during setup.
