EU Commission: €700 Million Fine for Apple and Meta

EU Commission: €700 Million Fine for Apple and Meta dpa • 35 minutes • 3 minutes reading time The EU Commission imposes fines on Apple and Meta. The EU Commission has imposed fines of €500 million and €200 million on the US tech giants Apple and Meta, respectively. The authority believes the companies have violated European digital law. The fines can still be challenged in court. Apple has already announced that it will legally challenge the fine. Specifically, according to the Commission, the US companies are said to have violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The regulation is intended to ensure, for example, that a dominant market position does not disadvantage other providers. This is the first time the Commission has imposed fines under the DMA. Apple calls it unfair action Apple believes the Commission's actions are unfair. It is being forced to provide technology for free. "We have invested hundreds of thousands of development hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law," Apple said. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to postpone targets. The penalties could have an impact on the current tensions between the US and the EU. The Republican chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Andrew Ferguson, recently said at an event that it appears as if the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a form of taxation of American companies. The EU Commission has repeatedly imposed heavy fines on US tech companies in recent years. The Brussels authority, however, consistently emphasizes that proceedings against American tech companies are not related to the current tensions with Washington over the tariff dispute. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, independent of the proceedings, brought up the possibility of taxes on advertising revenue for large online platforms at the end of last week. Commission: Apple imposes excessive restrictions on app developers The proceedings concern the fact that, according to the European Commission, Apple is preventing app developers from making offers available to consumers outside of the App Store. Users cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers because the company prevents developers from informing them directly about such offers. According to the Commission, Meta's penalty is due to its so-called pay-or-consent model. The Brussels authority had already announced last July that it considered this model to be incompatible with EU law. Meta introduced new options The focus is on the fact that Facebook and Instagram users have to choose between a monthly fee for an ad-free version and a free version with personalized advertising. There is insufficient opportunity for users to choose a service that uses less personal data. According to the Commission, Meta introduced a different version of the free personalized advertising model in November 2024. This includes a new option that is intended to use less personal data. "The Commission is currently examining this new option." The penalty relates to the period of the alleged infringement between March 2024 and November 2024. Higher penalties would have been possible Those who fail to comply with the DMA must expect drastic sanctions. The legal text provides for the possibility of imposing fines of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover. For repeat offenders, this rate can rise to 20 percent. For last year, Apple reported revenue of almost 400 billion US dollars (around 370 billion euros). According to company information, Meta's figure is around 165 billion US dollars.