(June 3): Meta Platforms Inc secured a partial victory in its bid to exempt certain services from the scope of strict European Union digital rules after a court said regulators made several legal errors when deciding what to target.
Judges at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg ruled on Wednesday that the European Commission’s designation of its classified ads business Marketplace was wrong but also said the Messenger service should be targeted by the Digital Markets Act.
“The General Court of the European Union annuls the decision designating Meta as a gatekeeper as regards Marketplace while maintaining Meta’s designation for its interpersonal communications service Messenger,” the court said.
Judges added that in the EU Commission's designation of Marketplace, the watchdog relied on partial evidence and on a “hypothetical and incomplete” analysis.
Facebook’s Marketplace was previously hit in 2024 with a €798 million penalty for breaching the bloc’s traditional competition rules.
The DMA came into effect in 2023 and is designed to clip the wings of the world’s largest technology platforms with a list of measures designed to change behaviour. But over recent months, the law has also drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump and plagued EU-US trade talk progress.
See also: Vivendi court loss clears EU hunt for sensitive merger messages
Apple Inc and Meta have been the first recipients of financial penalties for allegedly breaching the law, with fines of €500 million and €200 million respectively.
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