European Commission says Meta breached EU antitrust rules

The European Commission said Monday that Facebook's parent company Meta have breached the EU's antitrust rules by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads.

"The Commission takes issue with Meta tying its online classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to its personal social network, Facebook," the commission said in a statement on its preliminary finding.

"The Commission is also concerned that Meta is imposing unfair trading conditions on Facebook Marketplace's competitors for its own benefit," it added.

This means that users of Facebook automatically have access to Facebook Marketplace, "whether they want it or not," it said, and it could unfairly disadvantage Facebook Marketplace competitors.

Also, the Commission accused Meta of imposing "unfair trading conditions" on competing online classified ads services which advertise on Facebook or Instagram.

"The Commission is concerned that the terms and conditions, which authorise Meta to use ads-related data derived from competitors for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace, are unjustified, disproportionate and not necessary for the provision of online display advertising services on Meta's platforms," it said.

Meta can respond to the Commission's formal Statement of Objections on "suspected violations" of EU antitrust rules.

If confirmed, these practices would infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU that prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position and Meta could face a fine of up to 10% of its total global annual turnover.

The sending of a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation, the statement added.