On: Meta Fined $843M by EU over Marketplace Ads

[ApolloFortyNine]

What they were found guilty of (was this even a trial?) seems like could apply to literally any business that participates in two markets.

>Tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook. This means that all Facebook users automatically have access and get regularly exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not.

You can accuse almost anything of that, it's like business 101. The European grocery store chains (aldi/lidl) tend to have a literal random shit aisle that exists to capitalize on this, and has for years.

And I always hate laws that seemingly make everyone guilty, and are going to inevitably come down to selective enforcement.

[piltdownman → ApolloFortyNine]

A retail store selling various kinds of retail goods and a Social Network embedding a Classified Ads service in their core offering are not remotely equivalent.

[crazygringo → piltdownman]

No, the social network with the classifieds service is much better.

The reason it's so good is that it has real people's identities tied to the listings. That massively decreases issues around scams and safety.

I want those things to be connected. I don't want regulations that make that illegal. That's the opposite of progress and consumer benefit.

[techjamie → crazygringo]

> The reason it's so good is that it has real people's identities tied to the listings. That massively decreases issues around scams and safety.

Facebook Marketplace is infested with all sorts of scams. It's not the worst, but scams aren't exactly rare, either.

[true_religion → crazygringo]

Or they could just require ID for sales, just like every physical business who has to know who their so called marketplace partners are.

[crazygringo → true_religion]

These aren't business marketplaces. These are more like classifieds, like Craigslist.

Nobody wants to share their ID with a stranger, especially because how would you even know if it was real?

But when you click through and they're part of a genuine social network and Facebook shows you have a mutual friend, that's pretty good social proof.

[true_religion → crazygringo]

I mean for them to share their ID with Facebook.

[ApolloFortyNine → piltdownman]

Facebook already has ads, this is just another kind of ad.

See how it comes entirely down to interpretation?