European Commission fined Apple and Meta €700 million

The European Commission has recognized that Apple and Meta violated the requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and fined them EUR 700 million.

As a result of the DMA violation, the European Commission fined Apple EUR 500 million and Meta EUR 200 million.

As noted in the statement, according to the DMA, application developers who distribute their products through the App Store have the right to inform users about alternative offers outside the store for free, direct them to these offers, and provide the opportunity to make purchases outside the Apple ecosystem.

“Under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be 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 Commission found that Apple fails to comply with this obligation. Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers,” the Commission’s statement said.

However, as the European Commission found, Apple imposes several restrictions that do not allow developers and consumers to take full advantage of alternative distribution channels or cheaper offers.

It is argued that Apple has failed to prove that such restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate.

As a result, the European Commission ordered Apple to remove the technical and commercial restrictions that prevent the implementation of mechanisms for free information for users and to refrain from similar actions in the future.

As for Meta, according to the DMA, large online platforms are required to obtain user consent to combine personal data from different services.

If the user does not agree, they must be provided with an alternative version of the service that uses less personal data but remains functionally equivalent.

At the same time, in November 2023, Meta introduced an “opt-in or opt-out” model, under which users could either opt-in to personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free version.

The European Commission concluded that this model was not in line with the DMA, as it did not give users a real choice.

In November 2024, Meta introduced a new model that supposedly uses less data. However, the April 23 ruling refers to the period from March to November 2024, when users in the EU were only given the choice of “pay or accept.”

In addition, the European Commission also decided to stop considering Facebook Marketplace a platform subject to the DMA, as it had less than 10 thousand business users in 2024.

The statement emphasized that Apple and Meta must comply with the European Commission’s decision within 60 days; otherwise, they face periodic fines.

At the end of March, the FT reported that the EU plans to impose minimal fines on Apple and Facebook owner Meta under the DMA, as Brussels seeks to avoid escalating tensions with US President Donald Trump.

Recently, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned major tech companies—including X, Meta, Apple, and TikTok—that the EU is ready to fully enforce its digital laws regardless of who runs these firms or where they are based.