Meta fined 798 million euros ($846m) for breaching EU antitrust rules | Technology News

The EU claims that Meta automatically links its ad service – Facebook Marketplace – to Facebook, creating unfair profits.

The European Union has slapped tech giant Meta with a fine of around 800 million euros for what it called “abusive practices” involving its Facebook Marketplace online ad business.

The EU’s European Commission issued a fine of 797.72 million euros ($846.13m) on Thursday. It has accused Meta, which owns social media platform Facebook, of market practices that give its ad service an unfair advantage over competitors.

The benefit comes from automatically tying Meta to its ad service – Facebook Marketplace – to Facebook, which creates a “great distribution benefit”, according to the commission.

“All Facebook users have automatic access and exposure to Facebook Marketplace whether they want to or not,” he said.

Additionally, it said Meta imposed unfair terms on other classified ad service providers that advertise on Facebook and Instagram, enabling it to “use ad-related data generated by other advertisers for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace”.

Meta denied that it “did not use advertisers’ data for this purpose” and had “systems and controls in place to ensure that”.

“It is disappointing that the Commission has chosen to take measures to regulate a free and established system designed to meet the needs of consumers,” said Meta, adding that he will comply with the commission’s order to end the bad behavior but will appeal the case.

The fine is the latest in a series of tough penalties the commission, which governs the 27-nation European Union, has imposed on Big Tech companies for their practices in recent years. It is counted among the 10 biggest penalties for dishonesty.

The penalty takes into account “the duration and severity of the violation”, as well as the profitability of Meta and Facebook Marketplace, the commission said.

Meta’s total revenue last year stood at around 125 billion euros ($133bn).

Meta’s dominant position in the personal social media market comes with a special obligation not to abuse it by restricting competition, according to the EU.