Meta Criticizes ‘Clearly Flawed’ German Antitrust Ruling

Facebook owner Meta Platforms said Tuesday (May 10) that a German antitrust order limiting its data collection was “clearly flawed” and undermined European data protection regulations.

As Reuters reported, Meta’s criticism came in the wake of the German antitrust watchdog ordering the social media giant to stop collecting user data without consent, alleging that the company had abused its market power.

The case is part of a broader trend among regulators around the world taking measures to limit the power of Big Tech companies.

See also: Meta Challenges Order to Kill $315M Deal to Acquire Giphy

For example, Meta last month said it was fighting allegations from the United Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog that the company is breaking anticompetitive rules. Meta accused the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of being “irrational” and “inconsistent” when it ruled Giphy, a GIF search engine, was a competitor in the display advertising market.

Lawyers for Meta are trying to overturn the CMA’s order to rollback the $315 million deal to acquire Giphy. Meta said that in spite of the CMA’s review of more than 280,000 documents from the merging parties, there was no evidence they compete in the ad market.

Reuters noted that the wrinkle in the German case comes from whether the country’s watchdog exceeded its authority by using its antitrust powers to tackle data protection. Meta sued the watchdog in a German court, arguing the order was “clearly flawed.”

Read more: Germany Announces New Curbs on Meta’s Power

Last week, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said it plans to impose tougher regulations on Meta, arguing the company has “paramount significance for competition across markets.”

That designation gives the regulator added authority to limit the market power of Big Tech companies, and legislation approved in 2021 in Germany gives the Cartel Office the authority to ban activity it deems anti-competitive. The office said last week that Meta operates a thriving, ad-supported social media ecosystem used by a large portion of Germany’s population.