Meta fined by EU

Two weeks ago, the EU fined Meta EUR 800 million for what they perceived as market dominance abuse by promoting its market place feature to users. In short, the EU took exception to Facebook users having automatic access to Facebook Marketplace. The European Commission thinks that it creates an unfair advantage for Meta.

To me, that seems like fining a company for being successful and innovating into new product ranges. If MySpace (it still exists) had created a market place, no one would have batted an eyelid.

Part of Meta's response is that users had already created their own marketplaces through Facebook groups, all the company did was to formalise things to improve user experience. You can read the full response here.

As a user, I think Facebook Marketplace is an amazing product. It is easy to use and allows me to verify if a buyer or seller is legitimate. Instead of fining Meta, the EU should be giving them a medal for making a safer, more user-friendly platform.