Meta Offers Commitments to Address Competition Concerns Over Facebook Marketplace Advertising Data

Limiting Use of Advertising Data for Facebook Marketplace

Britain’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), announced on Friday that social media giant Meta has proposed measures to restrict its utilization of advertising data from other businesses for its Facebook Marketplace service. These steps aim to alleviate the regulator’s concerns regarding competition in the digital marketplace.

The CMA expressed its inclination to accept Meta’s commitments, which include allowing advertisers the option to opt out of having their data utilized to enhance the Facebook Marketplace classified ads platform. Michael Grenfell, the CMA’s executive director of enforcement, emphasized that reducing the risk of Meta exploiting businesses’ data on its platform for its own competitive advantage would be beneficial for UK advertisers using the platform. “We are now consulting on these commitments, which we believe, at this stage, will address our concerns,” stated Grenfell.

Safeguarding Data Privacy and Advertising Fairness

The CMA provided an example to illustrate its concerns, highlighting Meta’s potential use of data derived from users’ engagement with ads on Facebook. By analyzing a user’s interest in trainers based on their ad engagement, Meta could then influence the listings for shoes on Facebook Marketplace targeted at that particular user. Such practices raise questions about data privacy and fairness in advertising.

To assess the effectiveness of Meta’s proposed measures, the CMA has initiated a consultation process. Interested parties and stakeholders have the opportunity to review and provide feedback on Meta’s commitments until the consultation period concludes on June 26.