Apple and Meta hit with €700m of fines by EU

• Apple sees €500m EU fine for forcing users to use its own App Store
• Google accused of not collecting genuine user consent, receives €200m fine
• The US has already imposed tariffs on EU goods, but the fines could make things worse

The European Union has issued €700 million in fines to Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), making them the first two companies to receive fines under the legislation.

Both firms must comply within 60 days or they risk facing further penalties. Apple received €500 million in fines, while Meta was hit with a €200 million penalty.

Besides aiming to squash the dominance of big tech in the region, the EU's DMA fines may also cause further tensions between Europe and the US amid ongoing trade wars.

EU fines

In the case of Apple, the European Union has criticized the iPhone maker for restricting alternative app marketplaces on iOS, accusing it of reinforcing the dependence on the Apple Store for both app developers and consumers.

The EU says Apple must allow third-party app stores and sideloading on iOS, and naturally, Tim Cook's company isn't happy about the news, arguing that the EU is asking Apple to "give away our technology for free."

It has acknowledged that Apple has, "made it easier for users to change default settings for calling, messaging, call filtering, keyboards, password managers and translation services on iPhones."

For Meta, the European Union is accusing it of lacking genuine user consent in its 'consent or pay' model, violating DMA rules. In this business model, users had to allow data merging or pay a subscription to use Facebook/Instagram. Meta has accused the EU of "attempting to handicap successful American businesses," effectively imposing a multibillion-dollar tariff on the company and forcing it to offer an "inferior service."

More broadly, the US has already imposed tariffs on EU goods, citing unfair tech regulation. Europe's fines, totalling €700 million for just these two companies, is almost certainly going to ruffle some feathers.

Meta and Apple fight back

Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said: "The European Commission is 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."

"And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising the European Commission is also hurting European businesses and economies," Kaplan added.

Meta highlighted that the European Comission has already imposed more than $30 billion in fines on US tech companies over the past decade.

An Apple representative told us: "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."

"We have spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way," Apple continued."

Both Meta and Apple told TechRadar Pro that they intend to appeal. Apple added that it will "continue engaging with the Commission in service of [its] European customers."

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