META Meta Platforms Inc

By Joe Hoppe

The U.K. competition regulator said Friday that Meta Platforms has offered to limit use of other businesses' advert data, which it believes could address its competition concerns, and it will consult before making a final decision.

If the Competition and Markets Authority accepts, competing advertisers would be able to opt out from their ad data being used by Meta in the Facebook Marketplace.

The CMA said its preliminary view is that the offer from Meta addresses its concerns and it is now consulting on the proposed commitments before deciding whether to accept them. The consultation will close on June 26.

The CMA said Facebook-owner Meta has offered commitments not to use competitors' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace classified ad service. It will also restrict the use of ad data for developing Meta products available in the U.K. that are in competition with other advertisers.

If the CMA accepts the commitments, competing advertisers would be able to opt out from their ad data being used by Meta in the Facebook Marketplace. Accepting the commitments would also avoid the pursuit of a potentially lengthy investigation and would lead to earlier changes that would benefit businesses and consumers, the regulator said.

"Reducing the risk of Meta unfairly exploiting the data of businesses who advertise on its platform for its own competitive advantage could help many U.K. businesses who advertise there," said Michael Grenfell, executive director of enforcement at the CMA.

The regulator first launched its investigation in June 2021 into arrangements which it said appeared to enable Meta to use ad data from businesses using its advertising services to develop and improve its own products in competition with those same advertising customers.

Meta is the largest supplier of digital display advertising in the U.K., earning 4 billion to 5 billion pounds ($4.93 billion-$6.16 billion) from U.K. advertising in 2021.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2023 07:26 ET (11:26 GMT)

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