Brussels fines Apple and Meta multimillion-dollar fines amid trade war
The European Commission imposes sanctions of 500 and 200 million respectively.
BarcelonaThe European Commission (EC) has announced a €500 million fine for Apple and another €200 million for Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) for violating the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in March 2024. The sanctions come amid a trade war between the United States and the rest of the world.
Specifically, Brussels accuses Apple of monopolistic practices for failing to comply with the obligation to offer app developers who distribute their products through the App Store – Apple's application store – the possibility of informing users free of charge of alternative offers outside of the App Store. purchases.
"Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers are unable to fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside of the App Store. Similarly, consumers are unable to fully benefit from alternative, cheaper offerings, as Apple prevents developers from doing so," the EC statement said.
Separately, the European Commission has fined Meta for its long-standing requirement that users pay a subscription to avoid personalized advertising, i.e., to avoid access to personal data. In November 2023, Meta introduced the binary advertising model. consent or paymentUnder this model, EU users of Facebook and Instagram had the option to consent to the combination of personal data for personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free service.
The Commission found that this model did not comply with the DMA, as it did not give users the specific option needed to opt out of a service that uses less personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the personalized ad service.
Amid Trump's tariffs
The sanctions, which were adopted as the European Commission negotiated with the US government to find a solution to the tariff war, are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the new European Union regulation governing the market power of large internet platforms. Under this regulation, which came into force in March 2024, Brussels can impose fines of up to 10% of each company's global turnover in the event of non-compliance, and up to 20% if violations occur repeatedly. The regulation primarily affects six major technology companies: Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and ByteDance (TikTok's parent company), considered by the European Commission to be guardians within the sector.
Now, Apple and Meta are required to comply with the Commission's decisions within 60 days, or else risk periodic penalty payments.