The French antitrust watchdog has given Facebook’s parent firm Meta two months to adjust its access requirements for ad verification partners, claiming that the corporation was potentially abusing its strong market position in online advertising.
The competition regulator stated that Meta must publish new access criteria for partners seeking to use its analytical tools to analyse if online ad campaigns have been seen by consumers and are not displayed in a way that could affect the brand’s reputation.
According to the document, the new criteria must be transparent, objective, non-discriminatory, and proportionate.
“We are reviewing the interim decision and considering all of our options,” stated a Meta representative.
Ad verification firms provide services such as tracking the number of views internet ads receive, detecting fraudulent online traffic, and ensuring client ads do not show on websites that are detrimental to their brand, such as pornographic sites.
According to the French organisation, Meta’s invite-only strategy provided only the largest operators access to its data and might be regarded as discriminatory in the firm’s “viewability” and “brand safety” offers.
Adloox, a tiny, independent French ad verification company, filed the lawsuit in order to gain access to Meta’s data for these services from 2016 to 2022.
Adloox filed a complaint with the competition authorities last year. The authority determined that Meta’s barrier to entry caused “immediate and grave” injury to Adloox and the independent ad verification sector as a whole.