European Commission opens antitrust probe into Facebook

The European Commission is set to open a formal probe into Facebook’s alleged anti-competitive practices in classified advertising.

According to the Financial Times, Facebook has received at least three rounds of questions from EU officials. The inquiries include questions on whether the social network is distorting the classified ads business by promoting its Marketplace services for free to its users.

Facebook is also facing a separate antitrust probe in the UK led by the Competition and Markets Authority for the same reasons. The CMA is looking into whether the social network is allegedly using data it collects to undermine rivals in online advertising.

Like Brussels, UK regulators are likely to zoom in on Facebook’s behaviour around its Marketplace.

This is the latest formal antitrust probe into a tech giant by the EU. Recently, it opened an inquiry into Apple’s attempts to distort competition by charging high fees to competing streaming services.

Brussels also formally pressed charges against Amazon for allegedly undermining smaller rivals on its platform last summer and it is currently looking into Google’s potential anti-competitive behaviour in the Adtech space.