EU commission fines Meta with an amount of 798 million euros for ‘abusive practices’ it made by involving its Facebook Marketplace online classified ads business.
The fine ($846.13m) issued by EU’s European Commission on Thursday. And the fine was issued because the Meta was imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers.
EU fines Meta 798 million euros ($846.13m):
- Let’s understand from the basics- Basically, the ads users see on Facebook are from Meta only through Marketplace which leaves out other competitors because of the way it’s tied into Facebook.
- It has been said by EC that unfair trading conditions have been imposed by Meta on other classified ads providers who advertise on its platforms, which allows Meta to use ads-related data generated by other advertisers “for the sole benefit of Facebook Marketplace”.
- It has been found in the European Commissions’ investigation that Meta is “dominant” in the market for personal social networks as well as in the national markets for online display advertising on social media, that give its own ad service an undue advantage over competitors.
- Well, this is the reason of fining Meta which shows that Meta has break EU antitrust rules by doing unfair practices for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace.
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The fine issued by EU on Meta is based on the duration and gravity of the infringement, as well as the turnover of Facebook Marketplace to which the infringements relate. Not only fine, but now Meta has 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’.
Well, the fine imposed against Meta ranks among the 10 largest antitrust fines.
As the fine was imposed on Meta, Meta said that “It is disappointing that the Commission has chosen to take regulatory action against a free and innovative service built to meet consumer demand”.
The Meta’s most compelling argument against accusation is that the “Facebook users can choose whether or not to engage with Marketplace, and many don’t”. They use Facebook Marketplace because they want to, not because they have to”.
