According to the watchdog, Meta “failed to provide the company with the necessary information to carry out the negotiations in full compliance with the principle of transparency and fairness”.
The parent company of Facebook, Meta is being probed by the Italian Competition Authority.
The authority is probing Meta’s “alleged abuse of economic dependence” on the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE).
In Italy, the SIAE is a public authority charged with protecting artists’ copyright in Italy.
The SIAE had a contract with Meta that expired in December 2022.
However, unsuccessful renewal talks led Meta to cut off negotiations and remove SIAE’s artists from all its platforms.
“Mark Zuckerberg’s company may have unduly interrupted negotiations for the stipulation of the license to use, on its platforms, music rights by abusing SIAE’s economic dependence,” says the watchdog.
According to the watchdog, Meta “failed to provide the company with the necessary information to carry out the negotiations in full compliance with the principle of transparency and fairness”.
Meta is also being accused of exploiting its dominant position in the market.
It reportedly did this by “asking SIAE to accept an inadequate economic offer”.
But Meta failed to provide the appropriate information to assess its actual fairness, says the watchdog.
However, Meta says it is ready to “work together to meet the demands of the Competition Authority”.
According to Meta’s head of public policy in Italy, Angelo Mazzetti, SIAE is refusing any offer below 310 percent of its last license.
SIAE counters that any new license could not be compared to the one signed before.
The previous license was issued before Facebook became Meta, which considerably expanded the social network’s scope.
