Apple and Meta, two of the biggest tech companies in the world, have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars by the European Union, according to a report by Reuters.
Apple has been fined $570 million, whereas Meta has been slapped with a fine of $228 million by the bloc as the first sanctions to make the tech firms comply with the bloc’s rules, and curb the power of Big Tech. The hefty fines risk increasing tensions between EU and the Trump administration, which has previously threatened to levy tariffs against countries that penalise US companies.
Apple and Meta were under investigation for over a year by the European Union under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
Apple was charged with breaching the DMA rules as the company does not allow users to sideload apps on the iPhone, reported Reuters. Sideloading means being able to download alternative app stores and apps from the web. The EU competition watchdog has instructed Apple to remove the restrictions that prevent app developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store.
“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,” Apple said in an emailed statement to Reuters, while adding that the company aims to challenge the EU fine.
Meta, on the other hand, was required to provide consumers with the option to use its services without having their personal data combined across different platforms it owns. However, it failed to do so under the rules of the DMA, and was hence fined.
Reuters also reported that the EU regulator dropped Meta’s Marketplace’s designation as a DMA gatekeeper because the number of users fell below the threshold.
Meta, in a statement to Reuters, said, “The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
The companies have two months to comply with the orders or risk fines.
