Meta faces £665m EU fine for marketplace practices
The European Commission fined Meta nearly £665million for unfair trading practices on Facebook Marketplace. The EC found that linking the sales platform to Facebook gave Meta an unfair market advantage.
14 November 2024 19:01
The European Commission accused the digital giant of unfairly gaining a market advantage by connecting Facebook and Marketplace. Facebook users automatically have access to Marketplace, and according to the Commission, this could limit competition in the classifieds and sales platform market. The EC emphasises that competitors, lacking such reach, may be partly excluded from the market.
The EC also accused Meta of unfair practices involving unilaterally imposing unfavourable commercial terms on other sales platform operators. Maintaining a privileged position allowed Meta to exploit advertisers' data to its benefit, without providing equal opportunities for other companies. “The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72 (£662) million for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stressed.
Meta slapped with a hefty fine by the EC. "Deterrent effect"
Meta was fined by the EC in the amount of £665 million. The Commission considered the company's total turnover to "ensure sufficient deterrence for a company with resources as significant as Meta's." The company declared on Thursday that it will appeal this EC decision.
The European Commission's verdict is another reminder to tech giants. They are required to comply with antitrust regulations, which do not prohibit market dominance but simultaneously demand responsibility for the practices applied against competitors.
