Following this announcement, the penalty came after the EU alleged that Meta was tapping into user data in order to give its Facebook Marketplace service an unfair advantage.
According to Bloomberg, the company confirmed it has lodged an appeal against the fine at the EU's General Court located in Luxembourg. This development is set to intensify the ongoing disagreement between the social media firm and the European Union, which has been taking stringent measures against large technology companies.
The European Commission (EC), which represents the EU’s enforcement body, announced the fine in November 2024, mentioning that its investigation had determined that Meta gave its online classified ads service a significant advantage over its competitors by automatically offering the users and customers of its social network access to it, regardless of whether they want it or not.
At the same time, the EC also found that Meta has imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads solutions that advertise on its platform. This process allowed the company to leverage data generated by their ads in order to benefit Facebook Marketplace.
Officials from Meta mentioned that the firm will appeal the fine while also complying with it and addressing the points raised by the EC. The company added that the decision offers no evidence of harm to competitors or consumers, while also ignoring the fact that there are several successful online marketplaces in the European Union. Meta also contends that Facebook users have the possibility to choose whether or not to engage with Facebook Marketplace.
The appeal follows President Donald Trump’s recent comments on the manner in which the European Union’s fines represent `a form of taxation` on US-based companies. Furthermore, Facebook Marketplace has also come under regulatory pressure in other jurisdictions, with the firm settling an investigation with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority after agreeing to a series of concessions.
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