European Commission fines Meta 798m for Marketplace anti-trust infringement [Video]

The European Commission has fined Meta €797.7m for not allowing access to Facebook Marketplace outside of its Facebook social networking platform.

In its ruling, the Commission said that in tying its classified ads services to Facebook, Meta was imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers.

The Commission said Meta had abused its dominant positions in the markets for personal social networks and online display advertising on social media in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position.

The Commission judged that the company had done so, firstly, by tying Facebook Marketplace to Facebook, giving users access and regularly exposing them to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not.

Secondly, by “unilaterally imposing unfair trading conditions” on other online classified ads service providers who advertise on Facebook and Instagram, allowing Meta to “use ads-related data generated by …