On Thursday 14 November, the European Commission ruled that the US company Meta was in breach of EU antitrust rules and imposed a fine of €797.72 million. This covers two distinct procedures: - the fact that Meta links its Facebook Marketplace ad service to its Facebook social network; - the fact that the company imposes unfair trading conditions on other advertising service providers operating on its platforms (such as Instagram and Facebook).
In the first case, the Commission considers that Meta is not respecting consumers’ freedom of choice to use an ads service provider. As Facebook and Facebook Marketplace are linked, users of the social network are exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they like it or not. This link between the two services gives the company an advantage and risks driving out other providers, according to the Commission.
To remedy this situation, Meta must clearly offer users a choice of different ads service providers on its social networks.
The second infringement concerns the terms that Meta imposes on other ads service providers who publish on its communication platforms. These trading conditions are considered unfair, insofar as Meta uses the data generated by other advertisers for the benefit of its own Facebook Marketplace service.
The infringement proceedings opened by the Commission in June 2021 have therefore been concluded with the imposition of a fine. According to a European official, this is well below the limit of 10% of turnover that the Commission can impose. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)