Europe hits Meta with massive €800 Million fine for linking Facebook and Marketplace
Abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace will cost Meta €797.72 million ($840 million). The European Commission has ordered Meta to stop offering its classified-ads service to the popular social network Facebook.
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Abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace will cost Meta €797.72 million ($840 million). The European Commission has ordered Meta to stop offering its classified-ads service to the popular social network Facebook.
The European Commission released a statement saying it has fined Meta for breaching EU antitrust rules by linking its online classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to its personal social network, Facebook. This created unfair trading conditions for other online classified ads service providers.
“Today, we fine Meta €797.72 million for abusing its dominant positions in the markets for personal social network services and for online display advertising on social media platforms. Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, said.
The investigation concluded that Meta dominates the market for personal social networks and online display advertising on social media. Linking Marketplace to Facebook means that all users are automatically exposed to this service whether they want it or not.
Meta abused its dominant position by “unilaterally imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers who advertise” on Facebook and Instagram. This allowed Meta to use ad data solely for the benefit of Marketplace.
The European Commission has also ordered Meta “to bring the conduct effectively to an end and to refrain from repeating the infringement.”
The fine is based on the duration, gravity of the infringement, and Facebook Marketplace's turnover. The Commission considered Meta’s total turnover “to ensure sufficient deterrence for a company with resources as significant as Meta’s.”
According to Bloomberg, Meta disagrees with the decision, saying it “ignores the realities” of the market and plans to appeal it.