Meta Hit With EU Antitrust Charges Over Marketplace Service

Meta Platforms was hit with a formal complaint from European Union antitrust watchdogs for allegedly squeezing out classified ad rivals by tying the Facebook Marketplace to its own social network. From a report: The European Commission said Monday it issued a so-called statement of objections to Meta, paving the way for potential fines or changes to the firm's business model. 'With its Facebook social network, Meta reaches globally billions of monthly users and millions active advertisers,' EU Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in an email announcing the escalation of the case. 'Our preliminary concern is that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services called Facebook Marketplace,' meaning 'Facebook users have no choice but to have access to Facebook Marketplace.'

The EU watchdog said it's also concerned that Meta imposes unfair trading conditions which allow it to use data on competing online classified ad services. The case is the latest in a long-running Europe-wide crackdown on the market power of tech firms such as Google, Apple and Amazon that's led to multiple probes, fines and beefed-up laws. The EU previously fined Facebook for failing to provide correct information in the merger review of the WhatsApp takeover. Meta is also the subject of investigations in the UK and Germany.

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