By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
36 minutes ago,
updated at 3:35 p.m.
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The parent company of Facebook denies having violated competition rules and has announced that it will appeal this sanction from the European Union.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is once again under the wrath of Brussels. The group faces a record fine of 798 million euros for anti-competitive practices. The European Commission points to its Facebook Marketplace service which allows users to buy and sell goods.
believes that the American giant, by linking its online advertising service Facebook Marketplace to its social network Facebook, has thus imposed “unfair trading conditions” to other online advertising service providers. Meta immediately reacted by announcing that he would appeal this decision which “ignores the realities of the European market”. The fine announced Thursday is the seventh largest ever imposed by the EU for anti-competitive practices (excluding cartels), in a ranking dominated by Google, Apple and Intel.
The social media giant “sought to give its Facebook Marketplace service advantages that other online advertising service providers could not match”explained the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. “This practice is illegal. Meta must now put an end to this behavior”she demanded. The European executive, competition watchdog in the EU, opened a formal investigation on this subject in June 2021. It communicated its grievances in December 2022, giving Meta the opportunity to defend itself. The Commission claims that Facebook abused its dominant position. “All Facebook users automatically have access to Facebook Marketplace and are regularly exposed to it, whether they want it or not”she explained. She felt that “Facebook Marketplace competitors risked being ousted” failing to be able to match this “substantial advantage”.
Brussels also notes that Meta has imposed “unilaterally” of the “unfair trading conditions” to other providers who advertise on Meta's platforms, “especially on its very popular social networks Facebook and Instagram”. “This allows Meta to use data generated by other advertisers for the sole benefit of Facebook Marketplace”believes the Commission. “This decision ignores the realities of the thriving European market for online classifieds services and protects large, established businesses from the arrival of a new competitor”affirms on the contrary Meta, in a press release. “Facebook users can choose whether or not to use Marketplace and many don't”assures the Californian group which also underlines “do not use advertisers’ data” to compete with them. “We will appeal”said Meta, asserting that the European Commission had not 'found no evidence of harm to competitors'.
