Meta was fined for violating EU antitrust rules by linking its online ad service Facebook Marketplace to the personal social network Facebook.
On November 14, the European Commission fined Meta Platforms 797.72 million euros for abuses in favor of Facebook Marketplace. It was reported by Reuters.
Meta was fined for violating EU antitrust rules by linking its online classifieds service Facebook Marketplace to the personal social network Facebook and imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classifieds service providers .
Meta intends to appeal.
The EC’s decision comes two years after the US tech giant was accused of giving its Facebook Marketplace classifieds service an unfair advantage by combining the two services.
The EU opened formal proceedings into Facebook’s possible anti-competitive practices in June 2021, and in December 2022 raised concerns about Meta’s linking of its social network Facebook to online classified services by its ad.
Facebook launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded it to several European countries a year later.
As the EU ruling argued, Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on people who use Facebook on an illegal “tether,” but Meta says this argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can choose whether to -contact the Marketplace, and many do not.
According to the commission, Marketplace has the potential to hinder the growth of large established online marketplaces in the EU. However, as Meta notes, the EC could not find any evidence of harm to competitors.
As is well known, companies face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover for violating EU antitrust laws.
The European Union’s top privacy regulator fined social media giant Meta €91 million on September 27 for storing some users’ passwords without protection or encryption.
We remind you that a group of 83 Spanish media outlets previously filed a lawsuit for 550 million euros against Meta for violating EU data protection rules.
Source: korrespondent
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.