Meta likely breaching antitrust laws: European Commission

Facebook parent company Meta was told by the European Commission on Monday that it is violating EU antitrust laws by distorting competition and abusing its dominant position in online classified ads markets.

The Commission Is upset that Meta ties its online classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to Facebook’s social network. Meta is also imposing unfair trading conditions for its own benefit on Facebook Marketplace’s competitors.

The commission said that sending a statement of objections does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation and that it could impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s annual global sales if an infringement is found.

Meta denied its business practices were anti-competitive.

Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016 and is used in 70 countries to buy and sell items.
The EU competition enforcer launched an investigation into Facebook in June last year, focusing on whether the social network unfairly uses advertisers’ data to compete with them in the online classified ads sector.

In a separate statement on Monday, the Commission also said it had closed its antitrust investigation into Google and Meta for online display advertising services, adding that “a careful assessment of evidence did not confirm its initial concerns”.