The EU has fined Meta, the owner of Facebook, €797.72 million for breaching EU law.
The European Commission says the company used its dominant position to impose “unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers”. Meta also broken ‘anti-trust rules’ by tying Facebook Marketplace to personal accounts on Facebook.
Meta told us it strongly disagrees with the European Commission’s findings and plans to appeal.
“Dominant companies have a special responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition, either in the market where they are dominant or in separate markets”, the European Commission says.
The fine of close to €800 million reflects the “duration and gravity of the infringement, as well as the turnover of Facebook Marketplace”.
The European Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, says Meta acted to “benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that other online classified ads service providers could not match. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Meta must now stop this behaviour.”
Meta says whilst it is going to appeal the fine, it will nonetheless meanwhile also make changes to its website to comply with the European Commission’s demands.
“We aim to make announcements shortly to reassure our European users that Facebook Marketplace is here to stay.”
Meta’s European headquarters are located in Dublin.