European Commission accuses Meta of anticompetive practices, issues $841M fine

Meta building

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been fined nearly 798 million euros (U.S. $841 million) by the European Commission to resolve the agency’s long-running investigation into alleged “abusive practices” by Facebook Marketplace.

Meta promised to appeal the fine.

The EC claimed that Meta abused its dominant positions in both the social media market and the online classified ads market in the European Union’s 27-member countries. Facebook did so by tying its online classified ads for Facebook Marketplace to Facebook, whether Facebook users wanted them or not. The arrangement “gives Facebook Marketplace a substantial distribution advantage which competitors cannot match,” the EC said Wednesday in a press release.

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