The European Commission considers, on a preliminary basis, that Meta has breached EU rules "by distorting competition in online advertising markets"indicated this Monday the Community Executive.
The European Union body, which opened an investigation in June 2021 against Facebook (now Meta), believes that the American technology "abused his dominant position".
"Our preliminary concern lies in the fact that Meta links its dominant social network, Facebook, to its online advertising services called Facebook Marketplace."explained the executive vice president of the Commission responsible for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
"This means that Facebook users have no choice but to access the Facebook Marketplace."adds the European Commissioner.
The Commission fears that Facebook Marketplace’s competitors will be "driven out" since this site "gives Facebook a substantial distribution advantage that competitors cannot match".
In its preliminary opinion, the Community Executive also considers that Meta "unilaterally imposes unfair trading terms on competing online advertising services that advertise on Facebook or Instagram".
The Commission "fears that the general conditions, which authorize Meta to use advertising related data from competitors for the benefit of Facebook Marketplace, are unjustified, disproportionate and not necessary for the provision of online advertising services on Meta platforms".
The communication of these complaints to Meta, which is a formal phase of the commission’s investigation into alleged antitrust behaviour, "does not prejudge the subject of an investigation"specified the European Executive.
The Meta group can examine the documents in the file, respond in writing and request to appear in person to express their observations.
If after this phase the Commission concludes that there is an infringement, it can prohibit the behavior and impose a fine of up to 10% of the worldwide annual turnover of the company in question.