La European Commission ha I imposed a fine from 797,72 million euros to Meta for abusing its dominant position in the online advertising and social network market. The sanction refers to a conduct deemed unfair, in which Meta has tied its online classifieds service, Facebook Marketplace, to the social network Facebook, imposing unfair trading conditions to other online advertising service providers. According to Brussels, this practice has allowed Meta to gain unfair competitive advantages and distorted the online advertising market. A heavy fine but fortunately for Mark Zuckerberg's company far from the 13 billion fine that had been previously hypothesized. Meta has announced that it will appeal.
EU Accuses Meta of Dominant Position to Grow Facebook Marketplace
According to the European Commission, Meta has exploited their dominance on personal social networks and digital advertising for grow Facebook Marketplace, its online classifieds service in vinfringement of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. By linking Marketplace to the social network, Meta has automatically exposed all Facebook users to this service, creating a competitive advantage that other online advertising services could not replicate. This mandatory link gave Facebook a substantial distribution advantage, preventing peer competitors from competing effectively.
In addition to the link between Facebook and Marketplace, the Commission found that Meta imposed unfair trading conditions to other suppliers of advertising services, especially those that use Facebook and Instagram to promote their products. Meta would in fact used the data generated from these advertisers to exclusive advantage of your service of Marketplace, thus further violating antitrust regulations. The practice allowed Meta to collect data advantages without allowing others to access similar resources, creating an environment of unfair competition.
The investigation against Meta was launched in June 2021, after several online advertising providers raised concerns about Facebook’s conduct. In December 2022, the Commission notified Meta of the charges, starting a process that ended with a fine of almost €800 million.
A sanction based on rigorous criteria
The fine of 797,72 million euros was calculated taking into account the 2006 EU Antitrust GuidelinesThe final total was defined based on the duration and severity of the violations, as well as the company's global turnover, in order to establish a sufficiently deterrent amount for Meta. This fine is in addition to the previous fine of 1,2 billion euros imposed on Meta in May 2023 for violations of European data protection rules.
Meta called to change course
The Commission has imposed on Meta put an end to this behavior and to avoid repeating it in the future, as required by European competition law.
“Meta has abused its dominant position by tying its online ad service to Facebook, with the aim of preventing competitors from competing on an equal footing. This behavior is unacceptable under European rules,” he said. Margrethe Vestager, Vice-President of the Commission and responsible for competition.
Things could have been worse in Meta: the risk of a record-breaking maxi-fine
Although considerable, the €798 million fine appears modest compared to a possible much higher fine that Meta risked receiving. In recent months, there had been rumors of a possible mega-fine of $13 billion, equal to 10% of the company's global turnover in 2023. A sum that would have represented one of the highest fines ever imposed on a Big Tech.
