Source: Reuters.com
Meta—Facebook could face a fine of up to $13.4 billion, which would be 10% of its global revenue in 2023, even though EU sanctions are usually much lower than that.
The tech giant launched the no-ads subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in Europe last November, saying users who consent to be tracked get a complimentary service funded by advertising revenues. Or they could pay for an ad-free service. The European Commission acts as the EU competition enforcer and considers an antitrust fine for linking Marketplace and Facebook. This fine ties Marketplace’s classified advertisement service with its Facebook social network. A year and a half ago, there were accusations of the classified ads service of Facebook Marketplace, which imposed an unfair advantage by bundling the two services together. Meta seems to have abused its dominance by unilaterally imposing unfair trading conditions on competing online classified ads services that advertise on Facebook or Instagram. The EU decision is expected to be issued in September or October.
Meta spokesperson Matt Pollard stated the following:
“The claims made by the European Commission are without foundation. We continue to work constructively with regulatory authorities to demonstrate that our product innovation is pro-consumer and pro-competitive”.
