The social media giant Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, was fined by the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM). The company has to pay a fine of €5.85 million for violating the country’s laws about gambling advertising.

Fine for betting and gaming ads

The country decided to issue a fine to the industry giant, which is clearly a huge escalation when it comes to conducting the laws and regulatory actions issued by the state recently.

The AGCOM found various betting and gaming promotional content advertised on 13 Facebook profiles and five Instagram ones, 18 in total. Since both Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same company, Meta, the company got fined.

But that’s not all – further investigation revealed 32 visual posts, both video and images, that advertised betting and gaming activities. Since Meta provides various advertising services and it isn’t just the platform to display your own content, it is responsible for the violation.

AGCOM stated that the company is aware of the fact that betting and gambling ads are illegal, but despite that it approved the problematic ads.

In total, 18 accounts are flagged, but according to AGCOM, Meta is responsible for only five of them. After the AGCOM flagged the problematic ads, the company took measures to stop advertising and correct the issue. Also, after the regulator flagged the account, Meta blocked 11 of them.

But all those steps weren’t enough – the company had to pay a fine anyway. Apart from the penalty, Meta received an official notice and a take-down order for all ads in question.

Strict rules

Italy has strict rules when it comes to the regulation of problem gambling and gambling addiction. Back in July 2018, the state issued a Dignity Decree, a decree that helped prevent and resolve the issues related to the matter, and Meta violated that decree.

According to the document, all forms of betting and gambling ads are prohibited on both social media and other mediums, such as sports team jerseys, stadiums, and other media platforms.

Meta isn’t the only company that recently got fined because of betting and gaming ads. Both YouTube and Twitch got fined this month. AGCOM issued a fine of €2.5 million to YouTube, and Twitch had to pay €900.000 for similar violations.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) disagrees with Italy’s strict rules since it can drive the companies into the rapidly growing offshore market.

Source: Hogg, Lea, “Meta fined by Italian Regulatory Authority for gambling ad violation”. SiGMA. January 2, 2024.

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