The European Union has accused Meta Platforms (META) of violating antitrust laws by distorting competition in the market for online classified advertisements and abusing the dominant position of its Facebook social media platform.
“The (European) Commission takes issue with Meta tying its online classified ad service, Facebook Marketplace, to its personal social network, Facebook,” wrote a European Union antitrust panel in a preliminary judgement. “The Commission is also concerned that Meta is imposing unfair trading conditions on Facebook Marketplace’s competitors for its own benefit.”
European regulators could impose a fine of up to 10% of Meta Platforms’ annual revenue of $118 billion U.S. should it conclude in a final report that antitrust regulations have been breached, though fines imposed on companies are typically much smaller amounts.
Meta Platforms’ stock is down 65% this year and trading at $119.43 U.S. per share.