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The EU and UK Antitrust authorities investigate all the details on Facebook Marketplace

The EU and UK Antitrust authorities investigate all the details on Facebook Marketplace

The EU and the UK have launched antitrust investigations on Facebook to determine whether the world's largest social network has used customer data to compete unfairly with advertisers

Faro Antitrust EU and UK on Facebook.

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to investigate whether Facebook has violated competition rules by using advertising data collected specifically from advertisers to compete with them in markets where the digital group is active, such as ads.

The investigation will also investigate whether Facebook links its online classified ad service "Facebook Marketplace" to its social network, in violation of European competition rules.

Following a preliminary investigation, the Commission fears that Facebook could distort competition for online classifieds services.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority also launched its own investigation into Facebook's data usage today. The European Commission will seek to work closely with the CMA as independent investigations continue.

All the details.

THE EU ANTITRUST INVESTIGATION

“Facebook is used by nearly 3 billion people on a monthly basis, and nearly 7 million companies advertise on the platform, which collects vast amounts of data on the activity of its social network users and beyond, allowing it to target specific customer groups. We will examine in detail whether this data gives Facebook an undue competitive advantage, particularly in the online classifieds industry, where people buy and sell goods every day, and Facebook also competes with the companies it collects data from. In today's digital economy, data should not be used in ways that distort competition, ”explained the vice president of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of antitrust.

IN THE FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE SIGHT

Launched in 2016, Facebook users can buy and sell goods from each other in 70 countries through the Facebook Marketplace. Since 2019 it has been under the scrutiny of the EU.

The Commission will now examine in detail whether Facebook's position in social networks and online advertising allows it to harm competition in neighboring markets, in which Facebook is also active thanks to its social network, and in particular in classified 'online ads'. .

THE COMPETITION OF FACEBOOK WITH ADVERTISERS

When advertising their services on Facebook, companies that also compete directly with Facebook can provide the digital group with data of commercial value. Facebook could then use them to compete with the companies that provided them. This is especially true of online classifieds providers, the platforms on which many European consumers buy and sell products. Online classifieds providers advertise their services on the Facebook social network. At the same time, they compete with Facebook's online classifieds service, "Facebook Marketplace".

ADVANTAGE FOR THE SOCIAL NETWORK?

In particular, Facebook may use data obtained from competing suppliers in the context of their advertising on the Facebook social network, to help Facebook Marketplace overcome them. Facebook could, for example, receive precise information on user preferences from the advertising activities of its competitors and use this data to adapt Facebook Marketplace.

The Commission will also examine whether the way Facebook Marketplace is integrated into the social network constitutes a form of linking that gives the group an advantage in reaching customers and precludes competing online classifieds services.

If established, the practices under investigation may violate competition rules on anti-competitive agreements between companies and / or abuse of a dominant position.

THE UK SURVEY

On the other hand, the UK survey is broader. The CMA will look at how Facebook collects data from advertisers and the single sign-on that gives access to other websites with a Facebook login, and how this can benefit both Marketplace and the Facebook Dating business.

THE REACTION OF THE MARK ZUCKERBERG GROUP

Facebook replied that it will cooperate fully with the EU and UK investigations "to show that they are without merit".

“The market and dating offer people more choices, both products operate in a highly competitive environment with many large incumbents,” the company said in a statement.

THE COMMENT OF CONSUMERISM

"The European institutions have for years left the field free to the algorithms of social networks, and now they think of chasing them with late investigations that arrive when the damage has already been done", commented Consumerismo No Profit, a consumer association specializing in technology, the antitrust investigation by the EU Commission.

"We believe the time has come to finally give economic dignity to the data of users registered on the various social networks, favoring the monetization of these data and leaving consumers the right to decide on the commercial exploitation of their information" explains the president, Luigi Gabriele . "We need a RUC, Universal Register of Consents, where in a digital and facilitated way users can have traces of the exploitation of their data and possibly revoke the consents. Global social media and data analysis platforms are monetizing the lives of citizens without their knowledge – continues Gabriele – as long as there is no right, consent will always be circumvented ".

ALL EUROPEAN FINES TO THE USA COLOSSUS

Finally, EU regulators are perhaps the most aggressive in the world when it comes to big tech, notes the New York Times .

In fact, we recall that the European Commission has already imposed fines of over 8 billion euros on Google and is also investigating Amazon and Apple. The UK regulator is also looking into Google and Apple.


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/antitrust-ue-uk-facebook-marketplace/ on Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:46:27 +0000.