European Commission fines Meta €797.72 million over abusive practices benefitting Facebook Marketplace

The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72 million for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers. The Commission's investigation found that Meta is dominant in the market for personal social networks, which is at least European Economic Area (‘EEA') wide, as well as in the national markets for online display advertising on social media. In particular, the Commission found that Meta abused its dominant positions in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by:

• Tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook
• Unilaterally imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers who advertise on Meta's platforms, in particular on its very popular social networks Facebook and Instagram