An EU flag with the App Store logo
While the European Union has now fined Apple for what it claims is non-compliance with its Digital Markets Act, the sum involved has been kept low to avoid increasing EU/US trade tensions.
After denying reports saying that the EU was delaying fines while its member states negotiate with Trump over his “reciprocal” tariffs, the EU has now issued fines for both Apple and Meta. Apple has been fined while Meta was fined $227 million, both for claimed non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
“Today’s decisions send a strong and clear message,” Teresa Ribera, the EU’s new antitrust chief said in the full ruling. “The Digital Markets Act is a crucial instrument to unlock potential, choice and growth by ensuring digital players can operate in contestable and fair markets.”
“It protects European consumers and levels the playing field,” she continued. “Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms.”
Specifically, the EU claims that Apple has failed to comply with an obligation to allow developers in its App Store to freely inform customers of alternative offers, “steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has said it will appeal against the fine. The company is also said to have accused the EU of discriminating against it, and of requiring it to give its technology to rivals for free.
The EU has, though, accepted Apple’s “early and proactive engagement” over its complaints concerning user choice concerning default iPhone apps such as browsers.
In the case of Meta, the EU has fined the social media firm over offering users in the European Union a “consent or pay” model. It meant that, for a time, Facebook users were effectively being forced to accept all ads.
However, the EU has also backed down on one key issue concerning Meta. As of now, the Facebook Marketplace is no longer to be subject to the DMA.
That’s because Meta has persuaded the EU that Marketplace does not have sufficient business users to qualify under the DMA’s conditions for being a gatekeeper platform.
What happens next
Despite Apple reportedly saying it will appeal against the fine, at present the law gives the company 60 days to pay. If it fails to do so, Apple will “risk periodic penalty payments.”
It’s also possible that Trump will respond to the EU’s fine. Before his current second term in office, Trump said that Tim Cook had recently complained to him about the EU.
Trump’s comments were typically unclear, but he did conclude by saying that “I’m not going to let them take advantage of our companies — that won’t, you know, be happening.'”
During the term of Teresa Ribera’s predecessor, Margrethe Vestager, the EU anticompetition regulator fined Apple $2 billion over allegations regarding Apple Music. Those spurious claims treated Apple Music as the dominant music streaming service, when EU-based Spotify is far more widely used.
With the EU now fining Apple around 70% less for this seemingly similar case, it does appear that the European Commission is trying to avoid a tariff war escalation. Ribera has previously claimed the EU would not be bullied by the US, but has said she was open to negotiations with the White House.
