The Commission said in a statement on Thursday that it had 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 EU decision argues that Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on people who use the social media platform, but the company said that Facebook users can choose whether or not to engage with Marketplace.
Meta said it will appeal against the ruling but will comply in the meantime and will work quickly to launch a solution which addresses the points raised by the EU.
The U.S. tech giant also said the Commission claimed that Marketplace had the potential to hinder the growth of large incumbent online marketplaces, but that the EU executive could not find any evidence of harm to competitors, adding that other online sales platforms continue to grow and thrive in Europe.
The move by the European Commission comes two years after it accused Meta of giving Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling it together with its social media service.
The European Union opened formal proceedings into possible anticompetitive conduct by Facebook in June 2021 and raised concerns about the practice in December 2022.
Facebook launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded into several European countries a year later.
Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover for EU antitrust violations.
