EU slaps Meta with €797 million fine for breaching antitrust rules

According to the EU enforcer, the digital giant has harmed competition by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace with its personal social network Facebook.

“Facebook users automatically have access and get regularly exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not,” the Commission said in a statement. “Competitors of Facebook Marketplace may be foreclosed as the tie gives Facebook Marketplace a substantial distribution advantage which competitors cannot match,” it added.

Facebook Market place is an online ads service offered on Facebook social network, which enables users to buy and sell goods. The way it is embedded in the personal social network impedes competition on the online classified ads market, the Commission found.

The EU enforcer also found evidence that Meta imposes unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers on Facebook and Instagram by using data generated by competitors for the benefit of its own Facebook Marketplace.

The terms and conditions offered to those competitors include an unlimited use of their data, but an EU official said that the data used by Meta were also collected indirectly from users’ clicks.

Meta has now 60 days to comply with the Commission’s decision. In the meantime, it can offer solutions to untie Facebook Marketplace from its personal social network. Whatever the solution the digital giant finds, it will have to “give choice” to the users, the same EU official said.

In a statement, the company announced it was going to challenge the decision. According to Meta, since the EU launched its probe on Facebook Marketplace in 2021, the market has changed with many competitors able to compete.

“Platforms like eBay, Leboncoin in France, Marktplaats in the Netherlands, Subito in Italy, Blocket in Sweden and Finn.no in Norway are formidable competitors and the market leader in many member states,” Meta claimed.