Your commercial news round-up: Meta, veggie burgers, electric cars, hotel ads

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Have you been keeping up with the commercial news this week? Meta has come out victorious in a case against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a new EU law could lead to a change in how plant-based food is labelled in the UK. Meanwhile, Ford’s managing director has spoken out about proposed taxes on electric vehicles (EVs) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has removed adverts posted by four hotels due to misleading pricing claims.

• A US district judge has ruled that technology company Meta didn’t violate antitrust over ten years ago when it acquired WhatsApp and Instagram. The FTC, a US antitrust watchdog, sued Meta in 2020, claiming that it had secured a monopoly by acquiring the rival platforms. Presiding Judge Boasberg stated that Meta doesn’t have a monopoly, noting that the social media landscape is constantly evolving, "with apps surging and receding, chasing one craze and moving on from others, and adding new features with each passing year”. Director of public affairs at the FTC, Joe Simonson, said: “The deck was always stacked against us with Judge Boasberg.” BBC News noted that Boasberg has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration and now faces an impeachment push from congressional Republicans.
  
  The win for Meta comes after the search engine Google recently lost two antitrust cases against the Department of Justice. Antitrust law professor at Vanderbilt Law School, Rebecca Haw Allensworth, stated that this decision feels “like a change in momentum” and suggested that the outcome could “influence the likelihood of more cases like this being brought”. While Meta celebrates its antitrust victory, the company’s legal challenges are far from over. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ordered to testify in a landmark trial examining the impact of social media on young people.
   
• The UK could soon ban terms such as ‘veggie burgers’ and ‘vegetarian sausages’ under a new trade agreement with the EU, according to the Guardian. The Labour government has secured a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal, which will allow UK food products to be sold in the EU and potentially introduce strict rules on food labelling. New rules are yet to be finalised as the EU is set to vote on using “meaty” terms to describe vegetarian food this week, with any changes likely to apply in the UK as well. The labelling ban has been supported by the French, German and Italian governments. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan.”
  
  However, supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, Burger King and the sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle produced a joint open letter stating that banning “familiar terms” would make it “more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions”. Head of campaigns at environmental organisation WePlanet, Joel Scott-Halkes, said: “There’s no genuine, citizen-driven demand to ban veggie burgers or sausages – just a meat industry push to protect its profit margins from a rising tide of dietary change.” Meanwhile, associate director of commercial at the cultivated meat company Ivy Farm Technologies, Riley Jackson, said: “Consumers today are savvy and capable of making informed choices. We’ve had black bean burgers and veggie sausages on shelves for decades – formats people know, love and thus understand how to cook.” Commenting on the potential impact on the UK, a UK government spokesperson said: “We are focused on delivering an SPS deal that could add up to £5.1bn a year to our economy by cutting costs and reducing red tape for British growers, producers and retailers. We will not comment on hypothetical scenarios or speculation.”
   
• Managing director of car manufacturer Ford, Lisa Brankin, has warned Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves against increasing taxes on EVs, suggesting that this could discourage drivers from swapping away from petrol cars. Ford and other car companies are under pressure to meet a government target for 80% of vehicle sales to be EVs by 2030. There have been reports of a new pay-per-mile charge on EVs from 2028, according to the Guardian. Brankin highlighted that companies will struggle to meet the 80% target without government support. In response, a treasury spokesperson stated: “Fuel duty covers petrol and diesel, but there’s no equivalent for electric vehicles. We want a fairer system for all drivers whilst backing the transition to electric vehicles”. The spokesperson stated that the treasury has invested £4 billion to support the industry, particularly pointing to an electric car grant, which was introduced in July to “cut upfront costs by up to £3,750 per eligible vehicle”.
   
• The ASA has banned adverts from Hilton hotel group, Travelodge, Booking.com and Accor, following complaints about misleading room pricing. The watchdog stated that the hotels overstated their deals as only a small number of rooms were available to book at the stated price. ASA Operations Manager Emily Henwood said: "Advertised prices must match what's really available. If only a few rooms are actually offered at the price shown, or it only applies to a specific date, then this information must be made clear to avoid misleading people.” On further investigation, while rooms promoted by the Hilton hotel group were available for some users to book, the ASA concluded that it exaggerated the availability of the advertised rooms. It warned that future price deals should be available for "a significant proportion of rooms".

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