Meta Platforms will permit competing classified ads service providers to publish their ads on Facebook Marketplace, the company announced on Thursday, three months after facing a 797-million euro ($828 million or approximately Rs. 7,185 crore) EU antitrust penalty for giving its own service an unfair edge.
The European Commission, in its ruling in November, stated that the US tech giant had imposed unfair trading conditions on its competitors and had also linked Facebook Marketplace to its social network Facebook in violation of EU antitrust regulations. Referring to it as the Facebook Marketplace Partner Program, Meta indicated that the initiative is a response to the EU competition regulator even as it disputes the fine in court.
It mirrored recent statements made by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, asserting that the EU decision “serves as another example of the EU directly targeting US companies in a manner that is tantamount to a tariff regime. ” Meta mentioned it piloted the partner program in Germany, France, and the United States with eBay last month.
“This new program will allow third-party partners (specifically, online classified ad service providers as defined in the European Commission’s decision) to showcase their consumer-to-consumer inventory on Facebook Marketplace,” Meta stated in a blog post.
