In a significant blow to Meta, the European Union has imposed a €797.72 million (approximately Rs 7,179 crore) fine on the company for violating antitrust laws through its handling of Facebook Marketplace and online advertising practices. The EU’s investigation concluded that Meta misused its dominant position in both social networking and online display advertising within the European Economic Area (EEA).
The EU determined that Meta’s decision to integrate Facebook Marketplace directly with its social networking platform gave it an undue advantage, making the service automatically available and highly visible to Facebook users, regardless of their interest in using it. This practice, the EU argues, restricts competition as it offers Facebook Marketplace substantial exposure that other online classified ad services cannot achieve on their own.
Additionally, Meta was found to have imposed unfair terms on other classified ad providers who advertise on Facebook and Instagram. This practice allowed Meta to leverage ad data from these businesses to benefit its own classified ad service, disadvantaging competitors.
The EU has demanded that Meta halt these practices and refrain from adopting any similar strategies in the future. Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for competition policy, stated, “We are fining Meta €797.72 million for abusing its dominance in social networking and online advertising by linking Facebook Marketplace to Facebook and imposing unfair trading terms on competing ad services. This behavior violates EU antitrust rules, and Meta must now cease these practices.”
