On August 20, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has approved Meta’s revised plan for handling data from advertisers on its social media platforms. This decision follows Meta’s commitment in May to restrict how it uses advertisers’ data to avoid gaining an unfair competitive edge.
Previously, Meta allowed advertisers to “opt out” of having their data used to enhance Facebook Marketplace. However, under the new proposal, Meta will not use any data from Facebook Marketplace advertisers to improve the platform, eliminating the need for advertisers to opt in or out.
The CMA stated that these revisions exceed the original commitments and ensure that no advertisers are disadvantaged. This update comes as part of an ongoing investigation that began in 2021, examining whether Meta had an unfair advantage in areas such as online classifieds and dating services through its data practices.
In a similar move last year, Amazon pledged not to use marketplace data from its competitors, aiming to create a fairer environment for third-party sellers.
