UK competition regulator investigates Meta's commercial terms over use of website content in AI

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into whether the commercial terms Meta imposes on businesses using its platforms breach the Competition Act 1998. The concern, in the CMA’s description, is that the terms could let Meta collect content from business and publisher websites and use it in its own products, including AI features, without those businesses deciding whether or how it is used.

The case is a Chapter II inquiry, the part of the Act dealing with abuse of a dominant position. The CMA said it would first assess whether Meta holds a dominant position in one or more UK markets and, if so, whether its terms, or revisions to them, abuse it. Its case page names the concern as “unfair trading conditions” and says “no assumption should be made at this stage that competition law has been infringed.” The CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, said that where a company holds a dominant position “it must not use that position to impose unfair terms,” and that the CMA would work towards “a swift and satisfactory resolution”. The case page gives an indicative October 2026 to January 2027 window for initial information-gathering.

The CMA said the investigation followed concerns raised by the News Media Association and Movement for an Open Web. By its account, Meta first planned to introduce the changes on 30 October, delayed them to 20 November after engaging with the CMA, and on 28 October paused the rollout pending consultation with industry groups. The sources reviewed do not set out Meta’s own explanation of the terms or its response; the CMA’s account of what they cover is the only one here.

The CMA also said it was seeking information on a separate matter, concerns raised by the Federation of Small Businesses about posting external links on Facebook and Instagram without a subscription, and on Meta’s new Meta One subscription service. Both fall outside the investigation.

The CMA noted that its powers under the digital markets regime are limited here because Meta has not been designated with strategic market status; the next candidates are due for consideration by its Board in spring 2027. That leaves the Competition Act route, which allows interim measures to prevent significant damage, though the CMA did not say whether it would seek any. The case adds a competition-law channel to the dispute over who controls publishers’ content in AI products, alongside the copyright suits such as the New York Times’s action against Brave.