Competition watchdog accepts Meta ad data rule changes

The UK’s competition watchdog says it has accepted proposed changes from Meta to the way the social media giant uses the data of customers who advertise on its platforms.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Meta had pledged to allow advertisers to place adverts on Facebook Marketplace and be certain their data would not then be used to improve Facebook’s own products.

Under its original plans, Meta had pledged to limit how it uses advertising customers’ data in order to prevent it from getting an unfair advantage by offering competitors that advertised on Meta platforms an option to opt-out of their data being used to improve Facebook Marketplace.

The CMA had first opened an investigation into the issue in 2021, which was looking into whether Meta held an unfair advantage over its rivals in some areas because of the way it gathers and uses data.

The regulator said it had reached its decision to accept Meta’s proposed changes after a consultation with interested parties on the proposals.

“Having consulted advertisers and Facebook Marketplace users on the proposals, the CMA has concluded that the revisions go above and beyond the original commitments and would not leave any advertisers worse off,” the CMA said.

“As a result, the CMA has accepted the proposed variation.”