Meta hit with $1.2b EC fine for marketplace practices
The European Commission imposed a fine of nearly 1.2 billion Canadian dollars on Meta for unfair trading practices on Facebook Marketplace. The EC found that by tying the sales platform to Facebook, Meta gained an unfair market advantage.
The European Commission accused the digital giant of unfairly gaining a market advantage by linking Facebook and Marketplace. Facebook users have automatic access to Marketplace, and according to the Commission, this could limit competition in the classifieds and sales platform market. The EC emphasizes that the competition, lacking such reach, may be partially excluded from the market.
The EC also accused Meta of unfair practices involving unilaterally imposing unfavorable commercial terms on other sales platform operators. Maintaining a privileged position allowed Meta to exploit advertisers' data for its benefit, without providing equal opportunities for other companies. "The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72 million (CAD 1.18 bn) 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 an amount of 1.2 billion Canadian dollars. 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 the competition.
