The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg on Wednesday annulled the European Commission's designation of Facebook Marketplace as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), dealing a procedural blow to Brussels' flagship regulatory tool. The court found that the Commission failed to provide adequate justification for its September 2023 decision, which Meta had challenged specifically regarding Messenger and Marketplace.
The ruling is a setback for the Commission, which has positioned the DMA as its primary instrument to curb the power of Silicon Valley's largest platforms. However, the practical impact is limited: the Commission had already removed Marketplace from its gatekeeper list in April 2025 after Meta altered the platform, causing it to fall below the business user thresholds required for designation. Wednesday's decision thus hinges on errors in legal reasoning rather than a substantive finding that Marketplace is not a gatekeeper.
What the Court Found
The court determined that the Commission did not consider new information about changes Meta made to Marketplace in 2023, relying solely on data from the previous three years. The decision also lacked a sufficiently concrete analysis of how Marketplace operated after those changes, particularly whether businesses could offer goods and services to consumers on the site. This procedural lapse raises questions about the rigor of the Commission's initial assessments and its ability to withstand legal challenges from well-financed tech companies.
The court upheld the designation of Messenger as a gatekeeper, a significant point given its roughly 1 billion users. Under the DMA, this status obliges Meta to make Messenger interoperable with rival messaging services, potentially allowing users of WhatsApp, Signal, or other apps to message Messenger contacts without switching platforms.
Gatekeeper designation under the DMA triggers a raft of obligations that can fundamentally reshape how a platform operates. Non-compliance carries fines of up to 10% of a company's global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat offenders. For Meta, which reported revenues of $164.5 billion (€150 billion) in 2024, that could mean penalties running into the tens of billions.
Meta has already felt the force of those rules. On 23 April 2025, the Commission fined the company €200 million for breaching DMA obligations over its 'consent or pay' model, which the Commission found did not give users a genuine choice over how their personal data was used. Apple was fined €500 million on the same day for separate violations.
The court did not rule that Marketplace is not a gatekeeper—only that the Commission failed to make its case properly. Should the platform's user numbers recover, the Commission retains the power to redesignate it. That distinction matters because it leaves the door open for a fresh attempt but also hands Meta's lawyers a detailed roadmap of exactly where the original decision fell short.
This ruling comes amid broader tensions between EU regulators and US tech giants. The Commission's ability to enforce the DMA will be tested further as it pursues other cases, including against Apple and Google. The decision also highlights the challenges of regulating rapidly evolving digital markets, where platform changes can quickly alter competitive dynamics.
For now, the Commission must decide whether to appeal the ruling or refine its approach for future designations. The outcome will be closely watched by other tech companies facing similar scrutiny under the DMA, as well as by policymakers across Europe who see the act as a model for digital regulation worldwide.
