UK competition watchdog opens investigation into Meta's terms for publishers and advertisers
The Competition and Markets Authority will examine terms that could let Meta collect content from the websites of businesses and publishers using its services and use it for its own products, including AI. Meta says there are no grounds for the investigation.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into whether Meta's commercial terms for businesses using its platforms breach competition law. The regulator announced the case on Friday 30 October under the Competition Act 1998.
The CMA said the terms could allow Meta to collect content from the websites of businesses and publishers that use its services and then use it to develop its own products and services, including its AI features, without those businesses getting a choice on if or how their content is used. It is concerned this could amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions on thousands of UK businesses.
What the CMA is looking at
The investigation will first assess whether Meta holds a dominant position in one or more relevant markets in the UK. If it does, the CMA will examine whether its existing commercial terms, or revisions to them, amount to an abuse of that position under Chapter II of the Competition Act, according to the case page.
The businesses under investigation are Meta Platforms, Inc., Facebook UK Limited and Facebook Ireland Limited, and the case may extend to other entities in the group. The indicative timetable sets out rapid initial information gathering with Meta and third parties from October 2026 to January 2027.
The CMA said it acted after hearing concerns from stakeholders including the News Media Association and Movement for an Open Web. It stressed that no decision has been made on whether Meta has broken the law. After the first phase it can close the case or, if it provisionally finds an infringement, issue a statement of objections. The Competition Act also lets it impose interim measures where temporary action is needed to prevent significant damage.
A timeline of the terms
Meta originally planned to introduce the new commercial terms on 30 October. After engaging with the CMA, it delayed implementation to 20 November. On 28 October it announced a pause to the rollout, pending a consultation with industry groups, the CMA said.
"Digital platforms play an important role in helping UK businesses reach millions of customers around the world. But where a company holds a dominant position, it must not use that position to impose unfair terms," said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA. "We will be working to reach a swift and satisfactory resolution to this case."
Meta's response
Meta said there were "no grounds" for an investigation, Reuters reported. "We've already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders," a Meta spokesperson said. "We welcome the opportunity to explain our approach to the CMA."
A second issue for small businesses
Separately, the CMA is asking Meta for information about Meta One, its new business subscription service. The Federation of Small Businesses has raised concerns about the possible impact on small firms of posting external links on Facebook and Instagram without paying a subscription fee. The CMA said it has not decided whether to take formal action on this, and the issue falls outside the new investigation.
Part of a wider European pushback
The UK case follows action elsewhere in Europe. A Norwegian court this week temporarily banned Meta from enforcing the new terms after ten media outlets argued they would threaten their rights to their content, Euronews reported. In France, the Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected Meta's attempt to overturn an order from the competition authority to negotiate in good faith with French media over neighbouring rights payments. The court found that Meta's conduct had caused "serious and immediate harm to the press sector". A Meta spokesman said the company was disappointed with the ruling.
The CMA chose its general competition powers because of urgency. Under the UK's newer digital markets regime, Meta has not been designated with strategic market status, and the CMA says the next set of proposals for such designations is due to go to its board in spring 2027. In the EU, Meta is already a designated gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act.
What it means for European founders and investors
Many European startups depend on Facebook and Instagram to find customers, and plenty of them publish content on their own websites. The case puts a basic question in front of a regulator: can a dominant platform make access to its advertising and business tools conditional on the right to reuse a company's website content for AI? The answer will matter to media startups, ecommerce brands and any business whose value lies in its content.
It also matters to AI founders on the other side of the table. Rules on how training and product data can be gathered are tightening across Europe, through courts, competition authorities and data protection regulators. Startups that build on licensed or clearly permitted data will face fewer surprises than those relying on broad terms of service.
For now, nothing changes for Meta's business users in the UK, because the rollout is paused. Founders should still read platform terms closely and respond to consultations, since the CMA's evidence gathering until January relies on input from affected businesses. For more on the UK's approach to AI policy, see our report on the government's AI package.
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