Italy’s antitrust watchdog today said it’s taking action against Facebook Inc. for the social giant’s alleged failure to implement data disclosure measures it was ordered to roll out in the southern European country.

In November 2018, the Competition and Markets Authority hit Facebook with two fines totaling 10 million euros for breaching Italy’s consumer protection code.

At issue was the way the social network presented its namesake platform to users. Italian authorities found that Facebook’s “it is free and it will be forever” messaging was misleading because the company uses members’ data for commercial purposes, namely serving ads.

Facebook was ordered to remove the claim from the Italian version of its site, which it did. But the watchdog says the social network didn’t comply with the second part of the order, that it inform newly registered users that their data will be collected for commercial purposes by adding an “amending declaration” to its Italian homepage, Facebook app and the personal page of each member.

Authorities this week launched noncompliance proceedings against the social network that could potentially lead to a 5 million euro fine. It’s unclear if Facebook still has time to to stave off the penalty by adding adding the amending declaration to its platform. 

A Facebook spokesperson in a statement that “we are reviewing the Authority decision. We made changes last year — including to our Terms of Service — to further clarify how Facebook makes money. These changes were part of our ongoing commitment to give people more transparency and control over their information.”

What’s arguably even more significant than the possibility of a fine is that Italy’s competition watchdog will require Facebook to modify its site to inform new members about the use of their data. In theory, the move could inspire regulators elsewhere to take similar steps. The social network may in such a scenario also be required to add similar data use disclosures to its other properties such as Instagram.

Facebook is facing scrutiny from European competition authorities in other areas well. In August, sources told Bloomberg that the executive branch of the European Union has launched an investigation of the social network’s controversial Libra cryptocurrency. The news followed an earlier report in July that claimed EU regulators are looking at whether the social network deployed anticompetitive practices against smaller rivals.

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