Meta violated antitrust law by giving users automatic access to classified advertising services on Facebook's Marketplace. The European Union (EU) fined Facebook's parent company Meta 79 crore 77 lakh 20 thousand euros (84 crore dollars) on Thursday.
The news agency Reuters reported that the company abused its dominant position. According to the European Commission, Meta violated antitrust law by imposing unfair commercial terms on other online classified advertising services that advertise on Meta's various platforms.
"This is illegal under EU antitrust law. Meta's behavior must stop," said Margrethe Vestager, the head of the European Union's competition department, in a statement.
"Clarifying what Meta means by 'abusive practices', the European Commission said that since Facebook Marketplace is connected to Facebook, it enjoys a significant distribution advantage. As a result, competitors cannot keep up with it.”
The Commission also said, “All users have automatic access to Facebook Marketplace. It comes to them regularly, whether they want it or not.”
In this regard, Meta said that it will appeal against the EU fine. “Facebook users decide whether to join its Marketplace or not. The reality is that people use Facebook Marketplace because they want to. They are not forced to use it.”
In addition, the European Commission has accused Meta of setting unfair conditions for those who advertise on Facebook and Instagram in the classified advertising service. Due to this condition, Meta has the advantage of exclusive use of other advertisers’ advertising data.
However, Meta claims that it does not use advertisers’ data for this purpose. And it has created a system and control process to ensure that this does not happen.