Online ad verification: The Autorité de la concurrence issues interim measures against Meta

Having received a complaint in October 2022 from the company Adloox SAS (hereinafter "Adloox") regarding practices implemented by the companies Meta Platforms Inc., Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. and Facebook France (hereinafter "Meta") in the online ad verification sector, the Autorité de la concurrence (hereinafter "the Autorité") has today issued interim measures against Meta, pending a decision on the merits of the case. The Autorité considered that the conditions for accessing Meta's "viewability" and "brand safety" partnerships were likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position and cause serious and immediate harm both to Adloox's interests and to the independent ad verification sector.

Consequently, the Autorité has ordered Meta to define and make public new criteria for accessing and maintaining "viewability" and "brand safety" partnerships which are objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate. It has also issued an injunction to allow Adloox to be rapidly admitted to these partnerships, provided that the company meets the new access criteria.