EU fines Apple 500 million euros and 200 million euros to break the rules of the game
EU regulators fined Apple and dollar in two separate cases on Wednesday as they strengthened enforcement of digital competition rules for the group of 27 countries.
The European Commission fined 500 million euros ($571 million) for Apple to prevent app makers from pointing to cheaper options for users outside their app stores.
The commission, the EU executive, also fined the dollar platform 200 million euros ($315 million) as it forces Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing personalized ads or paying to avoid them.
The penalty is less than a large number of billions of dollars in fines, the committee has hit before
Large tech companies in antitrust cases.
Apple and Meta must comply with these decisions within 60 days, otherwise the risk of unspecified “regular fine payments”
The committee said.
The decisions are expected to take place in March, but the self-imposed deadline has repeatedly complained about Brussels’ regulations affecting U.S. companies after escalating in the transatlantic trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The fine is issued under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (also known as the DMA). This is a comprehensive rulebook, equivalent to a set of Do and Ant, designed to provide more options for consumers and businesses and prevent large-scale tech “goalkeepers” from turning around the digital market.
The DMA seeks to ensure that “citizens have complete control over when and how their data is used online and that businesses can communicate freely with their own customers.”
“The decision passed today found that both Apple and Meta took this free option from users and needed to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.
Both companies said they would appeal.
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Apple accuses the commission of “unfairly targeting” iPhone manufacturers and says “continue to move targeted positions”
Despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.
“The committee is trying to disable U.S. operations while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate at different standards,” Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer, said in a statement.
At a Brussels press conference, a committee spokesman tried to ease concerns that penalties would spark trade tensions.
“We don’t care who owns a company. We don’t care where the company is located,” Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters. “We are totally unknowable in this regard in the EU.”
“Whether it is a Chinese company, a U.S. company or a European company, you must play the game according to the EU’s regulations.”
In the App Store case, the committee accused iPhone manufacturers of imposing unfair rules to prevent app developers from turning consumers freely to other channels.
In the DMA regulations, developers are required to inform customers of cheap purchase options and direct them to these offers.
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The committee said it ordered Apple to remove technical and commercial restrictions to prevent developers from turning users to other channels and ending “non-compliant” behavior.
Apple said it has spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with the law, with none of our users asking for it. ”
“Despite numerous meetings, the committee continues to move target positions at every step,” the company said.
The EU’s META survey is centered on the company’s strategy to comply with strict European data privacy rules, allowing users to choose to pay for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.
Users can pay at least €10 per month ($11.40) to avoid targeting advertising based on their personal data. The U.S. tech giant introduced the option before the EU’s Supreme Court ruled that the meta-law ruled the meta-law, before it first gained consent, before it showed ads to users.
Regulators have questioned Meta’s model, saying it does not allow users to exercise their “free consent” rights to allow personal data in its various services, including Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp and Messenger, to merge into personalized advertising.
Meta launched its third option in November, giving European Facebook and Instagram users the option to view personalized ads if they don’t want to pay for free ad subscriptions. The committee said it is “currently evaluating” this option and continues to hold talks with META and asks the company to provide evidence of the impact of the new option.
“It’s more than a fine; the commission forced us to change our business model, effectively imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on the elements of the dollar while requiring us to provide inferior services,” Kaplan said. “And, by unfairly limiting personalized advertising in the European Commission, it also harmed European businesses and the economy.”
