Meta has just joined a select club. One to which companies like Google or Microsoft belong. But it is not exactly pleasant news for Facebook’s parent company. Today the European Commission has just announced a fine of 797.72 million euros to Meta for violating the antitrust rules of the European Union with its Facebook Marketplace service.
It was the next fine to arrive. Following the opening of the investigation in 2021, it was at the end of 2022 that the European Commission reached the determination that Meta had abused its dominant position. Now, two years later, the Commission has just announced the million-dollar fine, almost 800 million euros, but much lower than what it could have been.
It has been less than expected. The almost 800 million euros are considerably less than the 2.4 billion that Google received for Shopping. Meta faced a fine of up to 10% of its global revenue, that is, the fine could have amounted to up to €12 billion, if we take into account the revenue for 2021 when the investigation began.
The use of Facebook Marketplace was forced. According to the Commission, Meta abused its position with Facebook Marketplace. Firstly, linking the service to the Facebook social network, so that all its users automatically had an account. A clear competitive advantage over rival companies like Wallapop.
Secondly, there are unfair conditions for other providers when it comes to advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Meta prioritized the appearance of its sales advertisements before those of its rivals, which has been another argument for imposing the sanction.
Like Google and Microsoft. This is a case similar to what we already saw with Google and Android forcing the use of the search engine or with Microsoft and Explorer. In addition to the two large Big Techs that Meta has now joined, Amazon is also being investigated from Europe for anti-competitive practices.
With the support of the judges. Last September, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirmed the fine to Google for a dominant position with Google Shopping, in a case that has great similarities with that of Facebook Marketplace.
An endorsement by European justice of these fines that supports the Commission’s position, at a time of transition where it is not clear that the new executive will maintain the same role as Margrethe Vestager’s executive.
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