The European Commission has fined Meta EUR 797.72M for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers. The Commission’s investigation found that Meta is dominant in the market for personal social networks, which is at least European Economic Area wide, as well as in the national markets for online display advertising on social media. The Commission has ordered Meta to bring the conduct effectively to an end, and to refrain from repeating the infringement or from adopting practices with an equivalent object or effect in the future. Margrethe Vestager, EVP in charge of competition policy, said: “Today we fine Meta EUR 797.72M for abusing its dominant positions in the markets for personal social network services and for online display advertising on social media platforms. Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers. It did so 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 behavior.”
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