Report from the Wall Street Journal
In Brief – Meta and eBay have each announced that the social media giant would run a test in Germany, France, and the US enabling people to browse listings from eBay on Facebook Marketplace and complete transactions on eBay. The move comes following a recent decision of the European Commission to fine Meta 800 million euros for unfairly bundling its classified ads-type Marketplace service into Facebook’s huge social network and abusing its dominance in online advertising to impose unfair business terms on rival shopping platforms. Meta launched the Facebook Marketplace in 2016 and quickly integrated it into its massively used core social media platform. Their Marketplace has since grown into one of the top classifieds ads platforms in many markets, including in Europe. The Commission claimed that tying the Marketplace to Facebook gave the service an unfair advantage over classifieds and consumer-to-consumer shopping competitors, and that Facebook imposed unfair terms and conditions on those competing businesses when they advertised on Facebook, often requiring them to share user data that was then used to benefit Meta’s Marketplace. In announcing the trial involving eBay listings, Meta noted that it continued to object to the Commission’s decision and would continue with their appeal, while adding that their new practice could benefit users on both platforms as eBay sellers will have more exposure to Facebook users and those on Marketplace will see more listings from eBay.
Context – Competition regulators for the European Union and UK initiated parallel investigations of Meta’s Marketplace in 2021. Meta reached a settlement with British competition regulators in 2023 in a parallel case by agreeing to allow classifieds and shopping services that advertise on Meta’s social media platforms to opt out of data sharing that could be used to benefit Meta’s Marketplace. EU regulators turned down a similar offer. In the EU, the Digital Markets Act also now regulates Meta as a “gatekeeper” company and its Marketplace as a “core platform service”.