The European Commission has fined Meta, the company that owns Facebook, €797.72 million on Thursday for abusive practices benefiting the online marketplace on Facebook, known as Marketplace.
“The European Commission fined Meta… for violating EU rules by linking its online classified ad service, Facebook Marketplace, with its own personal social network, Facebook, and imposing unfair commercial conditions on other online classified ad services,” the European Commission said.
Meta announced it would appeal the decision but, in the meantime, would cooperate and work swiftly to find solutions to address the issues raised.
This decision by the European Commission comes two years after it accused the American tech giant of giving unfair preference to its own classified ad service, Facebook Marketplace, by merging the two services.
The European Union launched a formal investigation in June 2021 over concerns of anti-competitive behavior by Facebook. In December 2022, the EU raised concerns that Meta was linking its dominant social network, Facebook, with its own online classified ad services.
Facebook launched its online marketplace, Marketplace, in 2016 and expanded it to several European countries the following year.
The EU argues that Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on Facebook users through an “illegal link,” but Meta said this argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can choose whether or not they want to use Marketplace, and many do not.
Meta also stated that the European Commission claimed Marketplace could hinder the growth of large new online marketplaces in the EU but did not provide evidence to show that this harmed competitors.
