BRUSSELS, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission on

Thursday fined Meta Platforms ( META ) €797.72 million ($840.24

million) over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace,

it said in a statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters.

"The European Commission has fined Meta ... for breaching EU

antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service

Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and

by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified

ads service providers," the European Commission said.

Meta said it will appeal the decision, but in the meantime,

it will comply and will work quickly and constructively to

launch a solution which addresses the points raised.

The move by the European Commission comes two years after it

accused the U.S. tech giant of giving its classified ads service

Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling the two

services together.

The European Union opened formal proceedings into possible

anticompetitive conduct of Facebook in June, 2021, and in

December, 2022, raised concerns that Meta ties its dominant

social network Facebook to its online classified ad services.

Facebook launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded into

several European countries a year later.

The EU decision argues that Meta imposes Facebook

Marketplace on people who use Facebook in an illegal "tie" but

Meta said that argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can

choose whether to engage with Marketplace, and many do not.

Meta said the Commission claimed that Marketplace had the

potential to hinder the growth of large incumbent online

marketplaces in the EU but could not find any evidence of harm

to competitors.

Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global

turnover for EU antitrust violations.

($1 = 0.9494 euros)