wp-plugin-hostgator domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114ol-scrapes domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/05\/04\/meta-ads-adloox-antitrust-complaint-france\/<\/a><\/br> More regulatory woes<\/a> for Meta: France\u2019s competition watchdog has announced interim measures on the adtech giant \u2014 saying it suspects it of abusing a dominant position in the French market for ads on social media and across the broader (non-search-related) online ads market.<\/p>\n It\u2019s ordering Meta to suspend application of the current criteria it imposes for granting ad verification partnerships; and giving it two months to define and publish new rules for accessing and maintaining viewability and brand safety partnerships which the Authority specifies must be \u201cobjective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n Meta must also have a transparent access procedure for the partnerships that is not based on an invitation it sends, the order also stipulates.<\/p>\n The antitrust intervention follows a complaint by Adloox, a French ad verification platform that sells anti-ad-fraud and brand safety services. It complained to the Autorit\u00e9 de la Concurrence about Meta\u2019s conduct between 2016 and 2022, accusing the company of denying it the same kind of access to its ecosystem that some of its competitors have been granted, harming its ability to provide its services.<\/p>\n Adloox claims Meta discriminatorily denied it access to the aforementioned viewability and brand safety partnerships \u2014 despite providing such access to other companies in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n It also accuses Meta of abusing a dominant position by imposing unfair access conditions by providing only partial access to its ecosystem. And its complaint asked the Autorit\u00e9 to impose interim measures intended to force Meta to provide the sought for access.<\/p>\n The French regulator, which has taken a preliminary view that Meta\u2019s practices are likely to break competition rules, notes in a press release<\/a> that Adloox\u2019s last request to Meta, in August 2022, went unanswered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Authority considers that Meta\u2019s practices are likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position,\u201d the regulator writes in a statement [translated from French using machine translation]. \u201cIn light of the investigation, the Authority considered that Meta is likely to hold a dominant position on the French market for online advertising on social media as well as on the broader market for online advertising not linked to search. Given the importance of the advertising investments made on Meta\u2019s platform, Meta is perceived as a key partner for independent auditors.\u201d<\/p>\n Practices by Meta that the regulator is calling out as likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position are 1): The lack of defined and transparent objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria for accessing and maintaining viewability and brand safety partnerships \u2014 with the Autorit\u00e9\u00a0saying the company integrated its current partners \u201cfollowing an opaque procedure initiated by Meta alone\u201d. And while it notes Meta informed it of new eligibility criteria for the partnerships at the start of this year it points out these are still not public, nor do they appear to pass muster in other aspects, with the regulator pointing out they are still intended to be implemented as part of an (i.e. opaque) invitation system and suggesting they seem \u201cboth disproportionate and unjustified\u201d.<\/p>\n Secondly, the Autorit\u00e9 says Meta\u2019s refusal of partnership access to Adloox is likely to be discriminatory, given its assessment that the third party is in an equivalent situation to others that have been granted access by Meta.<\/p>\n The regulator says it\u2019s acting under the French Commercial Code which empowers it to impose \u201cprecautionary measures\u201d when it considers practices are causing serious and immediate harm \u201cto the general economy, to the economy of the sector concerned, to the interests of consumers or, where appropriate, to the complainant undertaking\u201d.<\/p>\n In this case, it adds that it suspects Meta\u2019s practices have caused \u201cserious and immediate harm to the independent advertising verification sector by freezing the oligopolistic structure of the market\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c[A]ccess to Meta\u2019s ecosystem is crucial for independent ad-verifiers, given the massive investment of advertisers in its inventories, but also the increasing demand from their clients for a single offer covering all online advertising channels,\u201d it notes. \u201cBy creating artificial barriers to entry and expansion, such practices significantly hinder the development of the advertising verification sector and the incentives to innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n The Autorit\u00e9 goes on to state that it takes an even more serious view of Meta\u2019s practices given they are taking place in a context where the market for independent advertising verification will soon be opened up \u2014 as the European Union\u2019s Digital Market Act<\/a> (DMA) starts regulating Internet gatekeepers in the coming months.<\/p>\n Meta has not yet been designated a gatekeeper under the DMA, since the Commission has until early September to decide which core platform services fall under the regime. However the adtech giant is widely expected to face regulation as a gatekeeper. And while it remains to be seen exactly which of its services will make the cut, Meta\u2019s ad platform seems highly likely to be designated as a core platform service under the DMA \u2014 which will require it to abide by a fixed set of operational obligations aimed at ensuring fair and open dealing.<\/p>\n The French watchdog also points out that the DMA will set obligations on \u201cthe main advertising platforms\u201d to provide free access to data necessary for independent verification of their inventories. So the measures it\u2019s taking now, following Adloox\u2019s complaint, appear to offer a taster of what the pan-EU regulation will soon be demanding of platform giants like Meta \u2014 but the difference will be it\u2019s required up-front, rather than months (or years) after complaints about abusive behavior.<\/p>\n The Autorit\u00e9\u00a0suggests Meta has caused \u201cserious and immediate harm\u201d to the interests of Adloox, by preventing it from providing its verification services on its platform \u2014 accusing it of depriving the third party of a major growth driver and likely causing it to lose clients.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should also be noted that Adloox\u2019s business has declined significantly since 2017, coinciding with Meta\u2019s refusal to integrate it into its ecosystem, while the business of its integrated competitors has grown significantly. The refusal of access to Adloox could therefore lead, before the end of an investigation on the merits, to its eviction from the advertising verification market,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n
\nMeta\u2019s ad business slapped with interim measures in France over suspected antitrust abuse<\/br>
\n2023-05-04 22:18:40<\/br><\/p>\n