The EU cuts as much as EUR 800 million in fines to Meta: ‘They abused their position and stifled competition’

The European Union’s regulatory body fined Meta, the parent company of Facebook, nearly 800 million euros on Thursday for unfair practices related to its Marketplace ad business.

The European Commission imposed a fine of 797.72 million euros after a long-term investigation in which they discovered that the company abused its position and “stifled” competition, writes the Associated Press. The commission accused Meta of distorting market competition by linking its online advertising business to the social network, automatically exposing Facebook users to Marketplace “independently of their will,” thereby marginalizing competition.

As a worrying fact, they pointed out that Meta imposed unfair business conditions with terms of service that enabled the company to use data related to ads (which are collected from competing advertising platforms that advertise on Facebook or Instagram), and all in ad benefit.

Such practices gave it “advantages that other online ad service providers could not achieve,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the Commission in charge of competition policy.

– This is illegal according to EU rules on the protection of market competition. Meta must immediately stop this kind of behavior – she added.

In its press release, Meta pointed out that this decision does not prove any “harm to competition” or to consumers, and that it “ignores the reality of a successful European market for internet ad services”. They added that the European Commission ignores the fact that Facebook users have the option of choosing whether to “use the Marketplace, and many do not”. Meta also states that other online marketplaces, including global platforms such as eBay, European services such as Vinted and national platforms, continue to record growth.

They will respect the Commission’s decision, they claim from Meta, and stop illegal practices, but they also announced an appeal against this verdict.