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EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier said both Apple and Meta have 60 days to comply or face even higher fines.
Both Apple and Meta have 60 days to comply or face even higher fines. Picture: Canva
The European Union (EU) has announced a €700 million fine on both Apple and Meta for the violation of digital competition rules.
The EU accuse the two US tech giants of breaching the recently passed Digital Markets Act (DMA).
EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier said both Apple and Meta have 60 days to comply or face even higher fines.
“So today, the commission has imposed fines of 500 million euros to Apple and 200 million euros to Meta for breaching the Digital Market Act. Now, Apple is indeed breaching its anti-steering obligations under the DMA by imposing a number of restrictions on app developers to steer their customers to alternative offers outside the Apple App Store.
“Meta, with its binary pay or consent advertising model, is breaching the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data,” Regnier said.
Apple might have to remove technical and commercial restrictions that prevent app developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store.
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After numerous exchanges with the Commission, Meta introduced another version of the free personalised ad model in November last year, offering a new option that uses less personal data to display advertisements.
The Commission is currently assessing this new option and continues its dialogue with Meta, requesting the company to provide evidence of the impact of this new “less ads” model in practice.
Regnier added that the fines for Apple and Meta are the first ones under the DMA.
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The two tech firms have reacted angrily, with Meta accusing the EU of “attempting to handicap successful American businesses” and Apple saying it was being “unfairly targeted” and forced to “give away our technology for free.”+
The EU started both investigations last year under a new law brought in to promote fairness in the tech sector.
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