Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
Almost two years after EU regulators first accused Meta of “abusive practices” that gave the tech giant unfair market advantages, the European Commission has fined Meta €797.7 million (around $840 million). The combination of forcing Facebook users to be exposed to Marketplace and imposing restrictions against third-party classified ads providers on the platform are the two main reasons cited for the fine.
In a statement, the EU’s competition head Margrethe Vestager accused Meta of abusing its dominant position in the social media market “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.”
The European…
