Competition watchdog opens investigation into Facebook owner Meta over plans to 'steal' British publishers' content for its AI

The Competition and Markets Authority has opened a formal investigation into Meta under the Competition Act 1998, examining whether the tech giant is abusing its dominant market position by imposing "exploitative terms" on publishers and advertisers. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the watchdog is "acting swiftly" and will seek a "swift and satisfactory resolution". The probe concerns terms that would allow Meta to scrape content across any publisher's website — not merely posts on Facebook or Instagram — provided that publisher maintains a business account on its platforms.

Peers have warned that Meta's terms appear to let it bypass paywalls and technical blocks to harvest content for AI training.

The investigation comes after Meta lost a case at Oslo District Court, where Norwegian judges ruled it must first assess whether the new terms are lawful.

News Media Association chief Theo Bamber said publishers faced an "invidious choice" of surrendering content for free or quitting a platform their businesses depend on.