Meta fined nearly €800m for ‘abusive practices’ on Facebook ads business

The logo of social networking site Facebook is displayed on a smartphone (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72m for what it says are breaches of EU competition law related to the social media giant’s classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace.

The Commission said by tying Marketplace to its Facebook social media platform, consumers on Facebook were regularly exposed to Marketplace whether or not they wanted to be, and this gave the site a “substantial distribution advantage” which over classified ad platforms could not match.