The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has hit Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, with a fine worth $840 million for what it classifies as an antitrust violation.
The fine amounts to €797.72 million, or more than $840 million, and was issued by the commission for “imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” according to a press release.
The fine was prompted by Meta tying its classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to its social network, Facebook, thereby causing users of Facebook to be “exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not.”
The European Commission issued the fine and ordered Meta to put a stop to the practice, compelling Meta to “refrain from repeating the infringement or from adopting practices with an equivalent object or effect in the future.”
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“Today we fine Meta €797.72 million for abusing its dominant positions in the markets for personal social network services and for online display advertising on social media platforms,” Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president in charge of competition policy, said.
“Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” she went on to say. “It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that other online classified ads service providers could not match. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Meta must now stop this behaviour.”