Facebook’s Meta Penalized for Violating Italy’s Ban on Gambling Advertisements
Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms (META.O), has been penalized in Italy for violating a law prohibiting the promotion of gambling.
The communications authority AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni – it serves as Italy’s communication industries’ competition authority and regulator) announced in a statement in late December that Meta had been fined 5.85 million euros ($6.45 million) in relation to Facebook and Instagram profiles and accounts, as well as sponsored content that promoted either betting or games with cash awards. Meta refrained from commenting thus far.
AGCOM Finds Several Infractions
Precisely carried out, the AGCOM probe found “promotional content” on 18 social media profiles that had to do with gambling and gaming. Thirteen of these accounts were on Facebook, and the remaining five were on Instagram—both of which Meta owns. Additionally, 32 “sponsored” video and/or image posts that promoted or advertised online gambling and betting operations were found by the regulator.
AGCOM made a clear decision, holding Meta responsible for being the owner of the distribution channel. The regulator contended that Meta actively offers a legitimate advertising business, in contrast to being a passive technical hosting platform.
AGCOM highlighted Meta’s knowledge of the content’s illegality, which resulted in the corporation being held liable.
The Partial Culpability of Meta
Even though only five of the 18 reported accounts were found to be under suspicion, Meta has nevertheless taken corrective action.
Eleven of the offending profiles were immediately removed by Meta once they were informed by the authorities. This, however, was insufficient to avoid the monetary fine that came with a take-down order and an official notification.
Italy’s Industry Backlash
The Dignity Decree, which was put into effect in July 2018 to combat problems with addiction and pathological gambling in the nation, was clearly broken by the Meta breach. All gambling and betting-related advertising was strictly prohibited by the order in a number of media outlets, stadiums, sports teams’ uniforms, and other venues.
In addition, AGCOM announced earlier this month that Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Amazon’s (AMZN.O) Twitch (whose content contributes to the rise of punters on eSports betting sites) will be fined for violating the ban. The fines assessed to YouTube and Twitch were 2.25 million and 900,000 euros, respectively.
Italy’s ban on gambling advertisements has drawn criticism from the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which claims that the ban unintentionally encourages a booming offshore sector.
