MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s antitrust authority stated on Wednesday it might examine Meta Platform over the potential abuse of its place in talks over the rights to music posted on Meta’s platforms and probably hurting competitors within the sector.
The dispute concerned the Italian society of authors and publishers, SIAE.
Based on the antitrust regulator, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm could have “unduly interrupted the negotiations for the stipulation of the licence for the use on its platforms” of SIAE’s music rights, it stated in an announcement.
Meta interrupted talks for the renewal of expired contracts by eliminating SIAE-protected music content material from its social platforms, however did not present the required data to SIAE to barter below the “precept of equity and transparency,” the regulator stated.
Its conduct might harm competitors within the related markets and “trigger critical harm to customers,” it added.
Final month, Meta, which owns Fb, Whatsapp and Instagram, failed to succeed in a cope with SIAE to resume the copyright license. In consequence, all songs below SIAE’s books have been blocked on its platforms since March 16.
“We are going to totally cooperate with the inquiry from the Italian Competitors Authority. Defending the copyrights of songwriters and artists is a vital precedence for us,” a spokesperson for Meta stated on Wednesday.
The investigation entails Meta Platforms Inc, Meta Platforms Eire Restricted, Meta Platforms Applied sciences UK Restricted and Fb Italy S.r.l.
(Reporting by Alessia Pé; modifying by Gavin Jones and Bernadette Baum)
