EU Fines Meta $843M For Tying Marketplace to Facebook, Harming Competitors | Global News Avenue

MetaPlatform (Mehta) has been fined 797.72 million euros ($843.31 million) by European regulators, who accused the company of harming other classified marketplace providers in Europe by attaching its Marketplace product to Facebook.

The European Commission, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said on Thursday that tying Marketplace to Facebook “means that all Facebook users will automatically have access to and regular contact with Facebook Marketplace, whether they want to or not.” The Commission believes that this brings ” A huge distribution advantage that our competitors cannot match.”

Fine is latest antitrust ruling Fighting Big Tech European regulators step up challenge to internet dominance Meta, Alphabet and others (Google), and Microsoft (Microsoft Corporation).

Meta said it planned to appeal the decision, arguing that it “ignores the realities of the European market where confidentiality providers are booming” and merely protects existing European companies from new competitors in Facebook Marketplace.

The company says it won’t force anyone to use Marketplace, as many Facebook users choose to ignore the service entirely. Mehta said the commission’s argument was based on potential future harm, rather than actual harm already suffered by European companies.

Market fines follow FTC litigation developments

Europe’s decision comes a day after a judge allowed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) The lawsuit seeks to break up Meta to move forward. The lawsuit, begun in 2020, argued that Meta acted to inhibit competition by: Buy Instagram and WhatsApp.

A Meta spokesman said: “We believe the evidence at trial will show that the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp is good for competition and consumers.” Investment Encyclopedia.

The spokesperson continued: “More than a decade after the FTC reviewed and approved these transactions, the Commission has wrongly continued despite overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others. Assert that our services are never final and businesses may be penalized for innovating.”

Meta shares were little changed Thursday afternoon, trading at $579.85, up more than 63% since the start of 2024.