UK competition watchdog opens investigation into Meta's terms on using publishers' content for AI

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on October 30 that it has opened an investigation into whether Meta is imposing exploitative terms on news publishers, advertisers and other businesses that use Facebook, Instagram and its other services. At issue are new commercial terms that would allow Meta to collect content from these businesses' websites and use it to build its own products, including AI features.

What the CMA is examining

According to Reuters and the PA news agency, the regulator will first establish whether Meta holds a dominant position in a relevant UK market. If it does, the CMA will assess whether requiring businesses to accept the terms breaches the Competition Act 1998. The authority said such a requirement could amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions on thousands of UK businesses, because companies would have no say over whether or how their content is used.

Chief executive Sarah Cardell said the CMA was acting quickly after hearing concerns from publishers and other firms, and stressed that a company with a dominant position may not exploit it to impose unfair terms. She added that the authority would seek a swift resolution. No deadline has been announced, and no official case page was available to us at the time of writing.

Meta's position

A Meta spokesperson said there were "no grounds" for a competition investigation, pointing out that the company had already committed not to change its terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders. Meta said it welcomed the chance to explain its approach. The new terms had been scheduled for November 20 and are now on hold; the existing terms remain in force.

How the dispute developed

The wording was first reported by Nieman Lab on October 15, which said it could let Meta send crawlers to sites linked to business accounts and use the material for AI training, with no clear opt-out. Meta disputed that reading and later removed the word "train", according to The Next Web. Publishers in Europe asked the EU and the CMA to intervene.

The Professional Publishers Association, which represents UK magazine and specialist publishers, welcomed the probe and said it would submit evidence. It wants the terms kept on hold during the investigation, access to Meta's services separated from consent to crawling, and a separate strategic market status review of Meta under the 2024 digital markets law. Whether the CMA will go that far remains open.