German Regulator Imposes Tougher Rules on Facebook Owner Meta

A man stands in front of a sign of Meta at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
A man stands in front of a sign of Meta at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
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German Regulator Imposes Tougher Rules on Facebook Owner Meta

A man stands in front of a sign of Meta at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
A man stands in front of a sign of Meta at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)

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.

Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, operates a strong, ad-supported social media ecosystem that continues to expand and is used by a large portion of the population in Germany, the cartel office said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said the new classification would form the basis for a more rapid conclusion of ongoing antitrust proceedings against Meta.

In 2019, the cartel office ordered the company to curb its data collection, saying the world's largest social network had abused its market dominance to harvest the information of its users without their consent. Meta, then called Facebook, appealed the decision, and the matter is still pending in court.

The cartel office also initiated abuse proceedings against Meta in 2020 related to the links between its Oculus virtual reality products and the social media network.

A spokesperson for Meta said on Wednesday that the US-based company would comply with the cartel office's decision on the classification.

"Even if we do not share the reasoning that has led to the Federal Cartel Office's decision, we will continue to concentrate on providing our users in Germany with the best possible experience in keeping with all the laws and regulations," a spokesperson for Meta told Reuters.



SDAIA Receives Recognition for Innovative Projects at WSIS Summit in Geneva

SDAIA’s nominated projects represented a distinguished set of technological initiatives that demonstrated innovation, relevance, and impact in their respective fields - SPA
SDAIA’s nominated projects represented a distinguished set of technological initiatives that demonstrated innovation, relevance, and impact in their respective fields - SPA
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SDAIA Receives Recognition for Innovative Projects at WSIS Summit in Geneva

SDAIA’s nominated projects represented a distinguished set of technological initiatives that demonstrated innovation, relevance, and impact in their respective fields - SPA
SDAIA’s nominated projects represented a distinguished set of technological initiatives that demonstrated innovation, relevance, and impact in their respective fields - SPA

The Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) received certificates for its nominated projects, which were recognized among the best entries at the 2025 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes held in Geneva, Switzerland, highlighting SDAIA’s innovative contributions to the fields of data and artificial intelligence (AI).

SDAIA’s nominated projects represented a distinguished set of technological initiatives that demonstrated innovation, relevance, and impact in their respective fields.

Out of 973 submissions from various countries, they were chosen after an expert evaluation conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), SPA reported.

The nominated projects included the government cloud-computing platform “Deem,” which provides integrated and flexible cloud services for government entities; the “Nafath” application for biometric identity verification; the “Serti” service within the “Tawakkalna” app that enables users to display their certified academic qualifications; the “Tahseen” project, which uses AI to restore and enhance historical media; and the “Allam” and “Sawtak” projects, both of which represent a significant leap in supporting and processing Arabic using large language models and speech recognition technologies.

These achievements reflect the Kingdom’s commitment, through SDAIA, to reinforcing its global standing as a trusted authority in data and AI, advancing the national digital transformation agenda, and supporting the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. They also contribute to enhancing the Kingdom’s regional and international competitiveness in technology and innovation.