EU imposes a €797 million fine on Meta for integrating the Facebook marketplace

The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72 million for violating European Union (EU) antitrust rules by directly linking its advertising platform, Facebook Marketplace, to its main social network, Facebook, and by imposing unfair trading conditions on to other online advertisements. providers.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, was found to have a dominant position in personal social networking in the European Economic Area (EEA) and in national social media display advertising markets.

The hefty fine comes two years after it accused the US tech giant of giving its advertising service Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling the two services together.

This followed A A 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) fine against the company barely a week ago by the South Korean Commission for the Protection of Personal Data.

In the previous case, the South Korean authority accused Meta of collecting sensitive user data and sharing it with advertisers without legal permission.

Meta’s breaches in Europe

The European Commission said in a statement released Thursday that its investigation found that Meta abused this market dominance by:

Facebook Marketplace integration with Facebook: All Facebook users automatically gain access to Marketplace, which appears regularly in users’ feeds. The Commission argues that this practice gives Marketplace a distribution advantage that its competitors cannot match, effectively sidelining them.

Unfair trading conditions for advertisers: Meta allegedly used advertising data from other classified ad providers who advertise on Facebook and Instagram solely for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace. This practice reportedly allowed Meta to use other advertisers’ data to gain an edge for its platform.

Consequences of the fine

The fine, based on the Commission’s 2006 guidelines, reflects the duration and seriousness of the infringement.

The Commission also took into account Facebook Marketplace’s revenues and Meta’s overall financial size to ensure that the fine would deter future antitrust violations.

The ruling obliges Meta to immediately end the infringements and to refrain from similar practices in the future.

Commenting on the Commission’s action, Executive Vice-President responsible for Competition Policy Margrethe Vestager said:

“Today we fined Meta €797.72 million for abusing its dominant position in the markets for personal social networking services and for online display advertising on social media platforms.

“Meta linked its online advertising service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online advertising providers.

“It did this to benefit its own Facebook Marketplace service, giving it advantages that other online advertising providers could not match. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Meta must stop this behavior now.”

The EU has stepped up its surveillance of the business practices of big tech companies and enforced measures that prevent market monopolization and ensure fair competition.

What you need to know

In July, the Nigerian Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) also fined Meta Platforms $220 million Established following a joint investigation into the Company’s conduct, privacy policies, operations and practices between May 2021 and December 2023.

The final order highlighted Meta’s alleged violations, including denying Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determination; unauthorized transfer and sharing of personal data of Nigerian data subjects, including cross-border storage in violation of then and now applicable laws; discrimination and disparate treatment and abuse of dominance.

These high-profile cases underscore the growing global emphasis on protecting user data and ensuring companies adhere to strict privacy rules.