French competition authority to investigate Meta's online advertising practices

(Clarifies paragraph 2)

PARIS (Reuters) -The French competition authority said on Wednesday it had informed Meta Platforms that the Facebook owner was accused of abusing its dominant position in the online advertising sector.

"(...) An objection has been notified to (...) Meta," the authority said in a statement, adding this investigation, likely to last several months, was ongoing and that the it does not mean the company will be found liable. 

A spokesperson for the competition authority told Reuters that the procedure has been triggered by a complaint filed in October 2022 of Adloox, an advertising platform, which has since been bought by private U.S. company Scope3.

In April, French media companies, including TF1, France TV and BFM TV, said they were suing Meta over what they say are unlawful business practices.

The company will also face trial this October in Spain over a 551 million euro ($645.06 million) complaint lodged by more than 80 media companies accusing it of unfair competition in advertising.

In February online, rights campaigners filed complaints in Europe over Meta's advertising practices, while earlier on Wednesday, EU antitrust regulators fined Meta, as well as Apple for what they said were breaches of EU law.

($1 = 0.8542 euros)

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Aurora Ellis)