Tech Desk 
Nov 15, 2024
The European Union on Thursday fined Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta around 800 million euros (around $840m) for committing blatant contravention of its anti-trust laws on Facebook.
The regulations breach pertains to the tech juggernaut allowing users to access its Facebook Marketplace, the platform's inherent classified ads service.
The European Commission claimed Meta misused its authority by making other, third-party advertisers abide by the improper trading rules and regulations it imposed on them on Facebook.
“This is illegal under EU anti-trust rules. Meta must now stop this behaviour,” the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
To offset charges levelled against it, Meta is going to appeal, as reported by Reuters. EU's decision did not take into account “the realities of the thriving European market for online classified listing services."
“Facebook users can choose whether or not to engage with Marketplace, and many don’t. The reality is that people use Facebook Marketplace because they want to, not because they have to,” stated the social media platform in a statement.
The nearly-$800m penalty ranks among the 10 largest antitrust fines ever imposed by the EU on big tech companies over the past few years.
