The European Commission fines Meta for abuse in favor of Facebook Marketplace.

The European Commission imposed a fine of €797.72 million on Meta Platforms for violating EU antitrust rules. According to the European Commission, the company linked its advertising service Facebook Marketplace to the social network Facebook and created unfair conditions for other online advertisement service providers.

Meta has announced its intention to appeal this decision and seek a constructive solution to resolve these issues.

The European Commission's decision was made after two years of investigation, during which Meta was accused of unfair competitive behavior by combining Facebook Marketplace with other services.

In June 2021, the European Union initiated an official investigation regarding possible anti-competitive behavior by Facebook, and in December 2022 expressed concerns over the linking of the social network to Meta's online advertisement platform.

Meta launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded it in several European countries. According to the EU's decision, Meta coerced Facebook users into using Marketplace, but the company claims that users have the right to choose whether to interact with this service.

The Commission argued that Marketplace harms existing online marketplaces in the EU, but Meta asserts that the European Commission provided no evidence of such harm to competitors.

Under EU antitrust laws, companies can face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover.