The fines could result in escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Euro counterparts.
The European Commission fined Apple and Meta 500 million euros ($570 million) and 200 million euros ($228 million), respectively, after ruling that both companies restricted customer choices, the executive body announced on April 22.
Both companies were found to have violated the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which ensures that large “gatekeeper” platforms operate in a “fair way” and allow room for competitors.
Apple was found to have run afoul of anti-steering obligations under the DMA. The provision requires that developers distributing their apps via the company’s App Store are 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 company “fails to comply with this obligation,” the commission said, adding that Apple imposed numerous restrictions on developers, due to which they could not take full benefit of distribution channels other than the App Store.
This results in users being unable to benefit from alternative or cheaper offers, as the company prevents developers from informing their customers about such offers, the commission said.
“The company has failed to demonstrate that these restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate,” the commission said in a statement. Apple was asked to get rid of any commercial or technical restrictions on steering.
As for Meta, the EU’s fines relate to the company’s “consent or pay” advertising model.
In November 2023, the company introduced this ad model, under which EU users of Instagram and Facebook had to choose between two options: provide consent to Meta to use their private data for personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free service.
The commission said this model was “not compliant with the DMA.”
Under DMA, gatekeeper platforms must provide a “less personalised but equivalent alternative” to users who do not consent to the usage of their personal data.
Meta’s consent or pay model “did not give users the required specific choice to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads’ service,” the commission said.
