France broadcasters sue Meta over alleged unlawful practices – JURIST
Law firms Scott + Scott and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier on Wednesday sued Facebook’s parent company, Meta, on behalf of France’s leading publishers over the tech giant’s allegedly unlawful business practices.
A first in French history, prominent media companies including TF1, France TV, and BFM were among 67 media companies representing 200 publications in the case. The complaint, which was filed before the Paris business tribunal court, accused Meta of attaining market dominance in the digital advertising sector as a result of illegal practices.
Meta’s large-scale collection of users’ personal data to power its targeted advertising model is the main focus of the French lawsuit against the company.
The latest legal challenge against Meta comes after digital rights organization Eko filed complaints with data protection authorities in February, opposing Meta’s unlawful advertising practices. The law firms allege that Meta’s exploitation of the market allowed it to monopolize the majority of advertising investments at the detriment of other smaller companies. The lawsuit points out that Meta and Google have a stronghold over the online advertising market, accounting for 75 percent of the market and 90 percent of its growth.
This lawsuit against Meta, which, along with Google, dominates the advertising sector in the European Union (EU), is the latest in a string of court cases against the multinational technology company. The European Commission issued in 2024 a €797.72 million fine against Meta due to its infringement of EU antitrust regulations. The fine was issued as a result of Meta’s imposition of unfair trading conditions on other classified advertisement service providers. The prohibition of abuse of a dominant position is enshrined in EU competition law under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.
Dominance itself is not unlawful, but dominant economic entities and businesses such as Meta have a responsibility to ensure that its market position does not negatively impact genuine competition with other companies that have a smaller market share. Competition in the advertising sector helps to increase efficiency between companies to cater to the evolving interests of consumers. Despite this, excessive competition can hinder innovation, leading to a lack in overall productivity.
Hours before the filing of the French case, EU antitrust authorities fined Meta and Apple a combined total of 700 million Euros under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) over its actions of breaking fair competition rules. If precedent is anything to go by, this monumental case could set a significant benchmark for how Big Tech is challenged in Europe, but for now, the outcome remains to be seen.
