The EU General Court ruled June 3 that the European Commission's designation of Meta's Facebook Marketplace as a gatekeeper under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) was legally flawed and annulled the designation [1, 2, 3]. The court found the commission relied on partial evidence and an incomplete analysis when applying the gatekeeper status to Marketplace [2, 3].

Meta argued the Marketplace service is an extension of Facebook and should not face separate gatekeeper obligations. A Meta spokesperson said, "The Marketplace ruling confirms that it should not have been designated in the first place" [3]. Marketplace was previously fined €798 million in 2024 for breaching traditional EU competition rules related to the platform [2].

At the same time, the court upheld the European Commission's designation of Meta's Messenger service as a gatekeeper under the DMA [1, 2, 3]. The Digital Markets Act, effective since 2023, imposes strict obligations on large digital platforms designated as gatekeepers to regulate their conduct in the EU market [2, 3].

Meta welcomed the court’s decision to annul the Marketplace designation but said it is reviewing the Messenger ruling [1, 3].

Separately, on June 4, Meta publicly opposed Australian draft legislation that would impose a 2.25% revenue tax on big tech companies failing to strike licensing deals with local media outlets. Meta called the proposed tax "poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," and said it is "vehemently opposed to this legislation" [4, 5]. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supports the bill aimed at requiring digital platforms to pay for local news content [5].

On the same day, Albanese noted an ideological dispute with the US over new 12.5% tariffs on Australian goods linked to forced labor allegations. He said, "There is an ideological disagreement where the United States administration has broken with what was a decades-long understanding that tariffs are not positive for the country that is imposing them" [6, 7]. Australia criticized the tariff increase as unjustified and inconsistent with free trade agreements [6, 7].

Today, June 5, Thailand's consumer watchdog announced plans to sue Meta over alleged Facebook scam ads targeting Thai users. The watchdog cited 3,793 complaints filed from 2024 to 2026 by Facebook’s 51 million users in the country. Saree Ongsomwang, head of the Thai Consumer Council, said the case addresses "both legal and ethical concerns about Facebook’s role in allowing fraudulent activities to continue" [8].