Meta receives a heavy fine from the European Commission for unfair competition by imposing Marketplace on Facebook. The amount is in the hundreds of millions of euros.
The European Commission has imposed a new hefty fine on an American technology giant. This time it is Meta and the fine amounts to 797.72 million euros.
After Apple last year, it is Meta’s turn to return to the clutches of the European Commission. The reason is this, Meta has forced Marketplace on all Facebook users, whether they like it or not. According to the European Commission, this amounts to imposing unfair commercial conditions on other providers of online classified advertising services (in France: Leboncoin, ParuVendu, Vinted, etc.).
The only classified ads you’re likely to see on Facebook are from Meta through Marketplace, which excludes any potential competitors to the Facebook platform, due to the way that service is linked to Facebook. But that’s not all. The European Commission also claims that Meta unilaterally imposes unfair trading conditions on other ad providers that advertise on its platforms, allowing Meta to use ad data generated by other advertisers “solely benefit of Facebook Marketplace.
The European Commission’s investigation found that Meta occupies a “dominant” position on the social media market as well as on national online display advertising markets on social media, which is why its behavior has come under scrutiny. subject of investigation.
The amount of the fine was set according to “the duration and seriousness of the infringement, as well as the turnover of Facebook Marketplace to which the infringements relate”. In addition to the fine, Meta is now required to “effectively put an end to the actions and to refrain from repeating the offense or adopting in the future practices having an equivalent object or effect”.
Unsurprisingly, Meta is contesting this decision and has promised to appeal the decision in order to “promote better outcomes for European consumers”, given that it “built Marketplace in response to consumer demand”. The company believes that the European Commission’s decision “does not take into account market realities” and “will only serve to protect existing marketplaces from competition.”
Meta’s main and perhaps most compelling argument seems to be that “Facebook users can choose whether or not to engage with Marketplace, and many do not.” “The reality is that people use Facebook Marketplace because they want to, not because they have to,” Meta says. For its part, Meta also claims that it does not use rivals’ advertising data to compete with Marketplace, because it has systems and controls in place to ensure this.
