Internet advertisements: the French Competition Authority forces Meta to change its practices
The French Competition Authority has pronounced precautionary measures against Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, due to potentially discriminatory practices in the field of advertising verification.
Meta tackled by the Competition Authority in France
In 2022, the Authority had already forced Meta to change its practices in terms of partnerships with Internet advertising players, after a complaint from the French group Criteo, and had thus avoided a sanction.
This time, it was the French company Adloox, which specializes in measuring the visibility of advertisements, which seized the institution in October 2022 after having tried unsuccessfully since 2016 to access two programs offered by Meta, essential for exercising his activity.
Among the emergency measures pronounced and which will remain in force until the publication of a decision on the merits, Meta will have to suspend the application of its current eligibility criteria to its partnerships and make public new access criteria which be “objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate”in order to “facilitate the integration of Adloox into its partnerships”.
According to the Autorité, the access conditions proposed 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 industry”.
The players in this market access data from the major social platforms and guarantee to advertisers that the advertisements purchased are actually seen by Internet users, in a context that does not damage the image of the brand.
The Autorité also justified these emergency measures by the forthcoming application of the European Regulation on digital markets (DMA), which includes new obligations in the area of competition for major web players. Entering into force on Tuesday, the regulation will potentially allow an opening and development of the advertising verification market, in particular for the benefit of smaller players.
