Meta slapped with +$800M fine by EU for breach of rules with Marketplace

Meta (NASDAQ:META) has been fined over $800M (€797.72M) in Europe for what the authorities call a breach of antitrust rules related to its classified ads service.

The European Commission alleged that Meta’s Marketplace was tied to Facebook and had imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers.

“The Commission’s investigation found that Meta is dominant in the market for personal social networks, which is at least European Economic Area-wide, as well as in the national markets for online display advertising on social media. In particular, the Commission found that Meta abused its dominant positions in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,” the Commission said in a statement dated November 13.

“Market dominance is, as such, not illegal under EU antitrust rules. However, dominant companies have a special responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition, either in the market where they are dominant or in separate markets,” the Commission added.