EU fines Apple and Meta for breaking digital competition rules

Penalties threaten to cause more tension in relationship between Europe and Trump administration

Applehas fallen foul of new Eu digital competition rules. Reuters

The European Union on Wednesday hit US tech giants Apple and Meta with fines of hundreds of millions of euros for breaking digital competition rules.

Antitrust regulators handed out the first sanctions under landmark legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech.

The penalties threaten to cause more tension in the already fraught relationship between the bloc and US President Donald Trump, as the two sides discuss a deal to avoid his sweeping tariffs on the EU. Mr Trump has threatened to levy tariffs against countries that penalise US companies. The decisions were expected to come in March, but officials apparently held off amid an escalating trans-Atlantic trade war.

The punishments were smaller than the blockbuster multibillion-euro fines that the commission has previously slapped on Big Tech companies in antitrust cases.

The European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros ($570 million) after concluding the company prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store to access cheaper deals.

The EU also fined Meta 200 million euros over its "pay or consent" system as it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

The tougher laws seek to ensure “that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online, and businesses can freely communicate with their own customers,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said in a statement.

“The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice from their users and are required to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.

The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect last year, forcing the world's biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU.

They could rise further if Meta and Apple fail to comply within 60 days, the commission said, threatening the US giants with "periodic penalty payments".

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan attend the inauguration day of US President Donald Trump. Reuters

The EU bolstered its legal arsenal over the past two years with major twin laws, the Digital Services Act and the DMA.

But since Mr Trump's return to the White House, there had been speculation that the EU would shy away from enforcing them.

Mr Trump frequently lashes out at the EU over its digital laws and taxes - claiming they are "non-tariff barriers" to trade - and many tech CEOs have aligned with his administration.

He has imposed 25-percent tariffs on steel, aluminium and auto imports from the EU, which Brussels hopes he will lift after an agreement.

Antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement the fines "send a strong and clear message", insisting the bloc had taken "firm but balanced enforcement action".

When Apple committed similar offences on its App Store, the commission issued a 1.8-billion-euro fine in March 2024 under different EU rules.

Apple faces a litany of accusations. The EU also told Apple in preliminary findings it was in breach of the DMA - and therefore at risk of another hefty fine - for not making it easy for rivals to provide alternatives to its App Store.

Apple, however, criticised the decisions and said in a statement it would appeal the fine.

"Today's announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free," the company said.

Meta accused the EU of "attempting to handicap successful American businesses 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," said Meta's chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and Trump ally.