Facebook Owner Meta Questions Necessity of Data Requests in EU Antitrust Investigations on Social Media App

Facebook parent compared searches by EU antitrust regulators over data, online marketplace to a fishing super trawler.

Advertisement
By Reuters | Updated: 1 June 2022 15:26 IST
Highlights
  • Meta handed over more than a million documents to the European Commission
  • The company questioned the necessity of the data requests
  • Meta subsequently took its grievance to the General Court
Facebook Owner Meta Questions Necessity of Data Requests in EU Antitrust Investigations on Social Media App

Meta has criticised the agency's use of 2,500 search phrases to trawl the company's documents

Meta Platforms on Wednesday compared searches by EU antitrust regulators to a fishing super trawler as they investigate the owner of Facebook's data and online marketplace.

Meta says it has already handed over more than a million documents to the European Commission since its first request in 2019 regarding its Facebook Marketplace, social networking and online classified ads.

It has, however, questioned the necessity and proportionality of the data requests and the reasons provided by the EU competition watchdog. The company has also criticised the agency's use of 2,500 search phrases — including "big question", "for free" and "not good for us" — to trawl the company's documents.

The company, which faces a EUR 8 million (roughly Rs. 66 crore) daily penalty payment if it does not comply with the demands, subsequently took its grievance to the General Court, the EU's second highest.

Advertisement

"One needs to put together the vague nature of what is under investigation with these extraordinarily wide ranging and general search terms. Once one does that, it is, with respect, obvious what is going on here. This is a classic fishing expedition," Meta lawyer Daniel Jowell told the panel of five judges.

"Indeed, we would go further. The Commission is operating like a fishing super trawler, hoovering up the whole sea bed - with the intention that it will later see what species of rare fish it finds within its vast nets," he said.

Advertisement

The court will rule in the coming months.

The cases are T-451/20 and T-452/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission.

Advertisement

© Thomson Reuters 2022


We discuss the best of Google I/O 2022 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Meta Platforms, Meta, Facebook
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Massive X-Class Solar Flare Erupts, Causing Widespread Pacific Radio Blackouts
  1. Massive X-Class Solar Flare Erupts, Causing Widespread Pacific Radio Blackouts
  2. Azadi OTT Release Revealed Online: Where to Watch it Online?
  3. First Copy Now Streaming on Amazon MX Player: Everything You Need to Know About Munawar Faruqui Starrer Drama Series
  4. Vir Das: Fool Volume OTT Release Date Revealed: Know When and Where to Watch
  5. Ghaati OTT Release Date: When and WHere to Watch Telugu Crime Drama Online?
  6. Ghatikachalam Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video: What You Need to Know About Telugu Psychological Horror Drama
  7. China’s Dragon Man Skull Found to Belong to Denisovan Lineage
  8. Is Mars Really Red? A Physicist Explains the Science Behind Its Colour and More
  9. Scientists Spotted the Largest Comet Lying in the Solar System’s Outskirts with Outbursting Gases
  10. SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes During Ground Test at Texas Launch Pad
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.