Facebook parent Meta could soon be fined again by the European Union for anti-competitive market practices. This time, the case involves Marketplacewhich is the social network space used for buying and selling products.
According to the website Financial Timesthe service has been accused of being a form of market domination for advertisements and items sold through the classifieds system. The European Union's argument is that Facebook prioritizes its own sales service on the social networkwhich takes away space from potential competitors.
FacebookIf found guilty, the owner of Facebook in the worst case scenario may be fined the equivalent of 10% of global annual income — which would mean a penalty of about US$13.5 billion (approximately R$74.2 in direct currency conversion), according to the platform's tax results. This amount, however, can be reduced and there is a chance of appeal.
Investigation has been ongoing for years
The investigation began back in 2019, when the EU first made allegations that Facebook was abusing its connection with Marketplace to “impose unfair trading conditions” e “use competitor data in the field of buying and selling services via online classifieds“. The complaint formally became a case two years later.
In its defense, Meta argued that the Marketplace operates “in a highly competitive scenario” e “does not use data from rivals on the platform to compete against them“. In Brazil, the feature has been available since 2018.
Recently, two other technology giants had their fines confirmed in processes already in the final stages of appeal in the region.
A Apple was accused of benefiting from a series of tax incentives irregularities in Ireland and had to pay 13 billion euros (around R$80 billion), while Google was fined 2.4 billion euros (almost R$15 billion) for use the price comparison and product sales tool to benefit their own search results.