European Commission fines Meta €798m for competition law breach involving Facebook Marketplace

The European Commission has imposed a fine of €798m (£664m) on Meta for violating competition law by integrating Facebook Marketplace into its social network. The Commission stated that this practice subjected alternative classified ads services to “unfair trading conditions,” thereby impeding their ability to compete. In addition to the financial penalty, Meta has been instructed to cease imposing these conditions on other services. Meta, however, declared its rejection of the Commission’s findings and announced its intention to appeal. Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust head, commented that Facebook had hindered other online classified ads service providers. She elaborated, “It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that other online classified ads service providers could not match.” Vestager further stated that Meta “must stop this behaviour,” with the EU urging the company to “refrain from repeating” the infringement. Meta responded by asserting that the Commission had provided “no evidence” of harm to either competitors or consumers. The company added, “This decision ignores the market realities, and will only serve to protect incumbent marketplaces from competition.” This ruling stems from an investigation launched by the Commission in 2021, following complaints from Meta’s rivals that Facebook Marketplace afforded it an unfair advantage. While Meta has not previously faced a fine from the EU specifically for competition rules, it was ordered to pay €110m in 2017 for failing to provide accurate information during its acquisition of WhatsApp. Separately, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has also previously fined Meta more than €1bn for mishandling individuals’ data during transfers between Europe and the United States. Moreover, in 2021, Meta was required to pay a comparatively smaller sum of £50m when the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accused it of deliberately breaking rules regarding its attempt to acquire Gif-maker Giphy, ultimately demanding that Meta sell the company entirely. This decision comes at a time when regulators worldwide are adopting a firmer stance with major technology companies, with the US government, for instance, considering a breakup of Google. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.