Investigation started against Facebook in UK, EU suspected of spoiling competition in classified science market
Margaret Vestager, executive vice-president of the European Commission and in charge of competition policy, said: “Facebook obtains a great deal of data through the activities of users on its social network and beyond. Through this data, the company is able to target specific customer groups.”
London: European Union and British regulators have launched an investigation into social media giant Facebook over alleged violations of competition rules in the classified ad market. The investigation will find out whether the company has used the data obtained through competing services to spoil the competition.
The European Commission said on Friday it would also examine the way Facebook linked its own classified ad services marketplace platform to the social network, whether it is benefiting it in reaching customers and whether it is helping the EU. Competition rules are being violated.
Meanwhile, the UK Competition Commission has also announced an investigation against Facebook. The investigation will look into whether Facebook’s collection and use of data gives it an unfair advantage over competing companies that provide classified data and ‘online dating’.
Margaret Vestager, executive vice-president of the European Commission and in charge of competition policy, said: “Facebook obtains a great deal of data through the activities of users on its social network and beyond. These data enable the company to target specific customer groups.” He added, “We will look at this in detail to see whether these figures give Facebook an unfair competitive advantage, particularly in the online classified ads space.” ‘
The investigation by EU regulators is being seen as an attempt to rein in the dominance of big technology companies. In fact, the EU’s concern that these online platforms use data collected from their customers to compete against them, this investigation also underscores. As of now, no response has been received from Facebook regarding this.
