Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Meta, Facebook's parent company, contacted EU antitrust regulators some time ago to try to reach a settlement over EU investigations into the company's use of customer data and bundling classified advertising services with Social networks, according to people familiar with the matter.

People familiar with the matter said the two sides had held only preliminary discussions and had not made any progress so far.

Tobias Caspary, a partner at Fried Frank, a prominent London-based law firm, said: "I'm not surprised there's no progress. If you see written documents such as a statement of objection, you can better assess this risk. "

Last June, EU regulators launched an investigation into Facebook, focusing on whether Social networks unfairly used advertisers 'data to compete unfairly with them in online classified advertising.

The second investigation focused on whether Facebook tied its classifieds service Marketplace to Social networks to gain an advantage in reaching customers and shutting out rival online classifieds services.

Other people familiar with the matter revealed last month that the European Commission was preparing charges against Meta.

Companies sometimes seek settlements after receiving such allegations.

Settling antitrust investigations could allow a company to avoid fines of up to 10 percent of global turnover. In addition, courts do not rule that companies infringe, which may help avoid companies meeting claims for damages.

The European Commission recently passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The bill makes it illegal for online platforms to favor their own services or unfair access conditions for app stores.

The move could encourage big tech companies to settle with ongoing investigations. After all, these companies may have a say in determining appropriate remedies.

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