London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Facebook's Marketplace in EU and UK antitrust crosshairs

Facebook's Marketplace in EU and UK antitrust crosshairs

Europe and Britain launched formal antitrust investigations into Facebook (FB.O) on Friday to determine if the world's largest social network was using customer data to unfairly compete with advertisers, in a new assault on its business model.

Europe and Britain launched formal antitrust investigations into Facebook (FB.O) on Friday to determine if the world's largest social network was using customer data to unfairly compete with advertisers, in a new assault on its business model.

The separate moves open new fronts in Europe against the tech giant, whose platforms are used regularly by almost 3 billion people and which is accused of using its vast trove of ad data to better compete with companies from which it also collects data.

The European Commission will assess whether Facebook violated EU competition law to unfairly compete in its Marketplace classified business, while the British regulator will also look at whether it is using the same tactic in its dating offering.

"In today's digital economy, data should not be used in ways that distort competition," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
Vestager has already slapped more than 8 billion euros ($9.7 billion) in fines on Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google and is also investigating Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O). The UK regulator is also examining Google and Apple.

Launched in 2016, Facebook's Marketplace is used in 70 countries to buy and sell items and has been under EU scrutiny since 2019.

"We will look in detail at whether this data gives Facebook an undue competitive advantage in particular on the online classified ads sector, where people buy and sell goods every day, and where Facebook also competes with companies from which it collects data," Vestager said.

Online commerce has become ever more important during the COVID-19 pandemic and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said in April that more than 1 billion people were visiting the Marketplace buying and selling service a month.
The EU probe confirmed what a person familiar with the situation had told Reuters on May 26. Facebook said the investigations were without merit.

SEPARATE BUT COOPERATING


The EU executive will also investigate whether Facebook ties Marketplace to its social network, giving it an advantage in reaching customers and threatening rival online classified ad services through its scale.

The UK investigation is broader, looking at how Facebook collects data from advertisers and the single sign-on that gives access to other websites with a Facebook login, and how that can benefit both Marketplace and the Facebook Dating business.

The investigations are separate but will cooperate.

"We intend to thoroughly investigate Facebook's use of data to assess whether its business practices are giving it an unfair advantage in the online dating and classified ad sectors," the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said in a statement.

"Any such advantage can make it harder for competing firms to succeed, including new and smaller businesses, and may reduce customer choice," Coscelli said.

Governments around the world are looking at strengthening the regulation of tech firms that have become more powerful during the COVID-19 pandemic. G7 finance ministers are examining new tax laws to target multinationals.

Britain's competition regulator is launching a Digital Markets Unit to better regulate tech giants, with a legally binding code that is backed up by the threat of fines of up to 10% of turnover.

Facebook said it would cooperate fully with both the EU and UK investigations "to demonstrate that they are without merit".

"Marketplace and dating offer people more choices, both products operate in highly competitive environment with many large incumbents," the company said in a statement.

The two investigations announced on Friday are just the latest regulatory challenge facing the Californian group.

On Thursday it bowed to French pressure, offering to provide its partners with clear and objective conditions of access to advertising inventories and ad campaign data following a complaint three years ago.

The German cartel office issued an order in February 2019 to curb Facebook’s collection of data from users, triggering a prolonged court battle that continues.

($1 = 0.8255 euros)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×