German Regulator Imposes Tougher Rules on Facebook Owner Meta

German Regulator Imposes Tougher Rules on Facebook Owner Meta
A woman holds a smartphone with the Meta logo in front of a displayed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta in this illustration picture taken on Oct. 28, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Reuters
|Updated:

BERLIN—Germany’s cartel office said that Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook, has “paramount significance for competition across markets,” a classification which gives the regulator more leeway to curb digital companies’ market power.

Under legislation introduced by German lawmakers in early 2021, the cartel office can ban what it deems to be anti-competitive activities.