South African Competition Commission Accuses Meta Of Using Market Domination, But Denies It Because It Is Competing With TikTok

JAKARTA - The South African Competition Commission on Monday, March 14 said it had referred the owner of Facebook and WhatsApp, Meta Platform Inc., to court for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the market.

But a WhatsApp spokesperson said regulators objected to the measure intended to protect platform users from abusing WhatsApp's terms.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, regulators in South Africa accused Meta of "abusing its dominance by engaging in exclusive behavior aimed at preventing competitors or potential competitors from entering, participating and growing in the market".

The commission said Meta had decided to "drop" GovChat, a start-up that connects governments and citizens, and its #LetsTalk subsidiary from the WhatsApp Business Application Programming Interface.

It also said the company had "imposed and/or selectively enforced exclusive terms and conditions governing access to the WhatsApp Business API, particularly data usage restrictions".

However, WhatsApp defended its exclusion from GovChat, saying that the start-up did not comply with the terms of service provided by Meta.

"GovChat has repeatedly refused to comply with our policies designed to protect citizens and their information, preferring to prioritize their own commercial interests over the public," a Whatsapp spokesperson said. "We will continue to defend WhatsApp against this abuse."

Meanwhile, officials at GovChat were not immediately available for comment on the matter.

Meta has been facing anti-trust action by several authorities, including in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

But Meta also took a $250 billion hit for its share price drop due to competition from major rivals like TikTok. This fact is used as an excuse by several parties who argue to support Meta's case that they face stiff competition and therefore Meta is not in a monopoly position.