EU fines Meta €797 mn over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace

The European Commission on Thursday fined Meta Platforms €797.72 million ($840.24 million) over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, it said in a statement.

Meta said in a statement that it will appeal the decision, adding that the EU has offered no evidence of harm to competitors or consumers.

Facebook had launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded into several European countries a year later.

“The European Commission has fined Meta … 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 European Commission said.

The latest move by the EU comes two years after it had accused the tech giant of giving its classified ads service Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling the two services together.

The European Union opened formal proceedings into possible anticompetitive conduct of Facebook in June, 2021, and in December, 2022, raised concerns that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services.