The European Commission fined Apple and Meta Platforms hundreds of millions of dollars and ordered the companies to comply with the bloc’s tech rules in a move that risks ratcheting up tensions with the Trump administration as officials pursue trade talks, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, on Wednesday slapped Apple with a 500 million euro fine, equivalent to about $570 million, for allegedly breaching the bloc’s Digital Markets Act. It fined Meta €200 million.
The commission also issued cease-and-desist orders that could have a bigger impact than the fines. One order targets Apple’s App Store and the other takes aim at Meta’s use of personalized ads – important revenue streams for each company.
The actions against Apple and Meta come amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and EU over trade policies and support for Ukraine. Trump has complained about EU tech regulations, which the U.S. has referred to as non-tarriff barriers to trade, and earlier this year threatened to respond to the bloc’s rules with tariffs.
The European Commission reported: Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively.
The two decisions come after extensive dialogue with the companies concerned allowing them to present in detail they views and arguments.
Under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.
The Commission found that Apple failed to comply with this obligation. Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternate distribution channels outside the App Store.
Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper as Apple prevent app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers. The company has failed to demonstrate that these restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate.
As part of today’s decision, the Commission has ordered Apple to remove the technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating the non-compliant conduct in the future, which includes adoption conduct with an equivalent object or effect.
Meta reported: “The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American business while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards. This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service. And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising the European Commission is also hurting European business and economies.”