Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp among other apps competing for your attention on your smartphone, has a chequered history when it comes to runs-in with European Union regulators.
But Meta struck a rare victory on Wednesday after the EU’s general court in Luxembourg said a European Commission move to regulate Facebook Marketplace under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) was incorrect.
While the commission had removed Marketplace from the purview of the DMA already, the decision copperfastens a move that formally eases the rules for operating in the bloc.
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The judges wrote that the commission’s designation of Marketplace “lacks sufficient reasoning” since the watchdog relied on partial evidence and on a “hypothetical and incomplete” analysis, according to Bloomberg News.
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While the ruling is a victory for Meta – the EU had fined it more than €700 million in 2024 over how Marketplace was embedded in its social network – there was still some mixed news for the company out of the EU’s general court.
The court ruled that the commission was correct to regulate Facebook Messenger under the DMA. Given how widely Facebook Messenger is used that will still have ramifications for Meta in Europe.
The tech giant is reportedly reviewing the judgment, and could yet appeal the ruling up the European Court of Justice.
In any case, the rulings highlight just how embedded Meta’s products are across the continent, and will likely keep the spotlight on the EU’s regulation of US tech giants.
That is something that has been exercising the Trump administration a great deal, and has been a point of strain between the two jurisdictions. In truth though, there may be a sense that if it isn’t regulation of US Big Tech, something else will inevitably come up as a pressure point between the two sides.
