The European Commission, which is investigating potential anti-competitive practices, has said more about what it blames the Meta group for in relation to the company’s tying behavior and advertising data.
Brussels, which has been fighting body and soul against the abuse of a dominant position for years, considers that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has violated European Union rules on anti-competitive practices. The Commission accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s company of having distorted competition in the online advertising markets.
An investigation started a year and a half ago
The European Commission considers that Meta has linked its Facebook Marketplace online advertising service to the social network of the same name. She also fears that the company imposes, for its own account, unfair commercial conditions on competitors of Facebook Marketplace. As a reminder, we are talking here about the American giant’s online advertising service, which allows users to buy and sell goods.
On June 4, 2021, the European institution opened a formal procedure, not to say an investigation, suspecting anti-competitive behavior by Facebook. Today, it communicates loud and clear about the presumed infringements, by addressing the grievances complained of directly to the company in writing.
Always making it clear that she does ” preliminary », the European Commission expresses its concern about the dominant position occupied by Meta on the personal social network market in Europe, and that which weighs on the national markets for online display advertising on social networks.
Practices that impede Facebook Marketplace competitors
With regard to the Facebook Marketplace online advertising service, linked to the Facebook social network, Brussels explains to us that users of the social network with a thumbs-up automatically have access to the platform, whether they want it or not. And that is the problem. For the Commission, the competitors cannot be ousted, because of the substantial advantage conferred on Facebook in terms of distribution.
On the other hand, Meta unilaterally imposes unfair terms of trade on competing online advertising services that advertise on the Instagram or Facebook platforms. The Commission is concerned that Meta’s terms and conditions, which authorize it to use advertising data from competitors for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace, are unjustified, disproportionate and unnecessary for the provision of display advertising services in line on the group’s platforms. She believes that the conditions in place today impose a burden on Facebook Marketplace’s competitors.
If these unfair commercial conditions were to be confirmed, Meta’s practices would be illegal under the rules of competition. The Californian company now has a right of reply, after which the Commission may adopt a decision prohibiting the practice and even impose a fine of up to 10% of Meta’s annual worldwide turnover.
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