Social media EU Commission imposes heavy fine on Facebook parent company

The EU Commission has fined Meta 797.72 million euros for allegedly violating competition law. The linking of Facebook Marketplace with the social network Facebook has been criticized as an unfair advantage over other providers.

Facebook's parent company, Meta, is facing a substantial fine from the EU Commission. The authority accuses the company of violating competition law by linking its classifieds service Facebook Marketplace with the social network Facebook. This practice has imposed unfair trading conditions on other providers of online classifieds services, according to the responsible Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a statement.

The EU Commission argues that the integration of Facebook Marketplace into the social network automatically gave all users access to this service, regardless of whether they wanted it or not. This gives Facebook Marketplace an advantage that other providers cannot compensate for and effectively excludes competitors from the market.

Background to the decision

The amount of the fine of 797.72 million euros was determined taking into account the duration and seriousness of the infringement of EU law. The turnover of Facebook Marketplace also played a role in the calculation of the fine. The Commission emphasized that Meta's total turnover was taken into account in order to achieve a deterrent effect on a company of this size.

Repeated measures against tech giants

This fine is not the first that the EU Commission has imposed on large American technology companies. Back in March, Apple was fined 1.8 billion euros as the company was accused of abusing its dominant position in the market for music streaming apps. Google has also received large fines in the past.

In recent years, the EU competition authorities have increasingly investigated the practices of large tech platforms to ensure that competition in the digital market remains fair. The latest decision against Meta is another example of the strict enforcement of competition rules in the EU.

SDA