The EU initiated investigation proceedings against Meta

On April 30, local time, the European Commission launched a formal investigation procedure against Meta Universe under the Digital Services Act. The reasons for this investigation procedure are mainly based on the company's alleged infringement. Specifically, those infringements include issues such as Meta's involvement in deceptive advertising in its services, a range of policies related to political content, and potentially flawed access to publicly available data that the company provides to researchers.

According to the EU's Digital Services Act, platform operators are obliged to take all reasonable and necessary technical and organizational measures to prevent their services from being used for illegal activities and to ensure the legality and transparency of the services. Meta's performance in this regard apparently did not meet the requirements of the EU, so it became the subject of investigation.

In addition, EU officials are concerned that Meta is not doing enough to protect upcoming EU elections or combat foreign disinformation on its platform, which could undermine the integrity of elections. As a result, the investigation also focuses on Meta's handling of ads by scammers and foreign election meddling actors, as well as the company's decision to shut down an analytics tool widely used by researchers and journalists to monitor Meta's platform.

If found guilty of violating the Digital Services Act, Meta could face hefty fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover. The investigation is the latest example of European regulators flexing their muscles after passing a series of new laws aimed at reining in U.S. tech giants.

It is worth noting that the EU launched investigation proceedings against Meta, which will certainly have a broad and far-reaching impact on its business, which also brings important implications to the global technology industry.

First, tech companies must pay more attention to compliance. With the increasingly stringent global regulatory environment, technology companies need to pay close attention to national and regional laws and regulations to ensure compliance with their business operations. Especially in the areas of data protection, user privacy, network security, advertising content, etc., technology companies need to develop and strictly implement corresponding policies and measures to avoid legal risks and financial losses caused by violations.

Second, tech companies need to be more socially responsible. As a part of society, technology companies should not only pursue commercial interests, but also pay attention to social well-being and respect and protect the rights and interests of users. This includes protecting user data from misuse, ensuring the authenticity and legality of advertising content, and fighting cybercrime. Technology companies need to put in place better mechanisms to ensure fairness and transparency in their business operations.

In addition, technology companies also need to strengthen technological innovation and research and development capabilities. In the digital age, technological innovation is the key for technology companies to maintain a competitive edge. Technology companies need to continuously invest in research and development resources to introduce more advanced, safe and reliable products and services to meet the evolving needs of users. At the same time, technology companies also need to strengthen international cooperation to jointly promote the healthy development of the global technology industry.

Finally, tech companies need to pay more attention to global regulatory trends and policy changes. As the global regulatory environment continues to change, technology companies need to pay close attention to the regulatory policies and trends in various countries and regions, and adjust their business operations strategies in a timely manner. At the same time, technology companies also need to actively participate in global regulatory cooperation to jointly develop and enforce more fair, reasonable and effective regulatory rules.

In general, in the face of the EU investigation, Meta should now actively cooperate and strengthen compliance management. Global technology companies should take this as a warning by placing greater emphasis on compliance, taking social responsibility, strengthening technological innovation and research and development capabilities, and paying attention to global regulatory trends and policy changes in response to an increasingly stringent global regulatory environment.