Meta Platforms has been fined €797.72 million (£663 million) by the European Commission for alleged anti-competitive practices involving Facebook Marketplace.
The European Union’s regulator ruled that Meta broke competition law by linking its social network to Facebook Marketplace, giving it an unfair advantage over rival online classified services.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president for competition policy, stated that Meta’s actions gave the company “advantages that other online advertising providers could not match”, and deemed this illegal under EU antitrust regulations. “Meta needs to stop this behavior now,” Vestager said.
Meta has announced plans to appeal the decision. The company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, claimed the ruling fails to prove “competitive harm” to its rivals or consumers and “ignores the reality of the booming European market for online classified services.” Meta argued that many Facebook users are choosing not to engage with Marketplace, emphasizing that it remains an optional feature.
Facebook launched its Marketplace platform in 2016 and expanded it across Europe a year later. The European Commission launched its investigation into Meta’s practices in 2021. Under EU antitrust rules, companies that commit violations face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover.
The ruling is part of ongoing stricter regulations on Meta within the EU. Last year the company was hit with a record €1.2 billion fine for breaching EU data privacy regulations. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission found that Meta failed to adequately protect European users’ data when it was transferred to the United States, where it was exposed to surveillance by US authorities. Meta’s European operations are headquartered in Dublin.
Meta is also under scrutiny in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission has sued the company over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, saying they were intended to eliminate competition. Meta has defended these acquisitions, claiming they have “benefited both competition and consumers.”
As the EU continues to tighten its grip on big tech companies, Meta has postponed the release of its latest AI model in Europe, attributing the delay to “unpredictable” regulatory conditions. This latest antitrust fine underlines the European Union’s increasing determination to regulate the market dominance of US-based tech giants.
Meanwhile, changes in the EU’s approach could be in store as Margrethe Vestager, who advocated significant fines against US tech companies, prepares to resign as Competition Commissioner. She is expected to be succeeded by Teresa Ribera, Spain’s environment minister, who is expected to balance oversight of tech companies with support for European companies.