EU - Antitrust Complaint Against Meta
The European Commission said it issued a so-called statement of objections to Meta, paving the way for potential fines or changes to the firm’s business model.
The EU watchdog said it’s also concerned that Meta imposes unfair trading conditions which allow it to use data on competing online classified ad services.
The case is the latest in a long-running Europe-wide crackdown on the market power of tech firms such as Google, Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. that’s led to multiple probes, fines and beefed-up laws. The EU previously fined Facebook for failing to provide correct information in the merger review of the WhatsApp takeover. Meta is also the subject of investigations in the UK and Germany.
Meta shares fell 3% at 10:36 a.m. in New York, almost eight times the Russell 3000 Index Computer Services Subsector. The stock has declined 65% in the past 52 weeks.
The Brussels-based EU regulator has been investigating Meta’s Facebook since 2019. The platform sought to curb the probe with lawsuits to limit what information officials could scoop up.
-www.bloomberg.com, 19 December 2022
Arno's Commentary
This development is something new. Facebook, for example, lists its age as “about 18 years.” On 6 August 2011, TheNextWeb.com declared: “20 years ago today, the world wide web opened to the public.” This fantastic communication tool has opened possibilities never thought of heretofore. It’s no longer a matter of reaching a city, province, or nation: Meta reaches billions of monthly users globally, with millions of active advertisers. Thus, new laws are continuously being written. The EU watchdog must now identify and eventually regulate various communication platforms, particularly in the advertising sector.
Because the EU has the strictest regulation when it comes to protecting individuals’ privacy, there seems to be no end in sight for antitrust charges against marketplace services.
All this is part of the super-successful race toward globalism. While still not fully implemented worldwide, it is becoming a powerful communication tool for merchandisers.
Based on Revelation 13, we know that in the end, global control will be exercised: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (verse 17).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
