On November 14, EU Competition Director Margrethe Vestager said that by linking Facebook with the Marketplace, Meta had "ordered unfair trade conditions" for other suppliers. Meta does this to benefit their Marketplace service, in order to bring advantages that others cannot keep up with, and this is illegal.
Meta representatives said they will appeal and point out that the European Commissions decision did not provide evidence of competitive harms to competitors or any harms to consumers.
It is known that the EU's extended antitrust investigation into Meta was launched in 2019, following accusations from competitors that the US technology giant is abusing its dominance by providing free services while taking advantage of the data it collects on its platform.
This is one of the last investigations to be supervised by Vestager. Because she will leave the committee in the next few weeks after a decade of management. During her term, Ms. Vestager has repeatedly targeted the world's largest technology companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016, a popular platform for buying and selling secondhand items, especially household items such as furniture.
Meta is facing billions of dollars in fines in Europe for a series of violations in recent years. The EU has announced a sanction for Meta in the context of a power transition taking place in the US and Europe.
Over the past 5 years, managers in the European Union have passed a landmark law called the Digital Market Act - aimed at curbing Big Tech and boosting the local technology industry.
