European Union Watchdogs Apple and Goal On Wednesday, hundreds of millions of euros increased the application of the digital rules of the block of 27 nations.
The European Commission imposed a fine of 500 million euros ($ 571 million) in Apple to prevent application manufacturers from signing users on cheaper options outside their app store.
The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, also fined the Meta 200 million euros platforms because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing personalized ads or paying them to avoid them.
The punishments were smaller than the multi-e-euros fines that the Commission has given before the large technology companies in antimonopeletes.
Apple and Meta must fulfill decisions within 60 days or risk -the risk of « periodic penalty payments, » said the commission.
Decisions were expected to arrive in March, but the self-imposed period was reduced in the midst of a growing transatlantic trade war with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has repeatedly complained about Brussels regulations affecting American companies.
The penalties were the first issued under the EU Digital Market Law, also known as the DMA. This is a rules book that is a set of DO and don’t designed to give consumers and companies more option and prevent the « goalkeepers » of great technologies from being completed in digital markets.
The DMA seeks to say that « citizens have total control over when and how their online data are used, and companies can communicate freely with their own customers, » said Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice president of the Tech sovereignty commission, in a statement.
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« The decisions made today find that both Apple and Meta have made this free choice of their users and are required to change their behavior, » Virkkunen said.
The two companies indicated that they would appeal.
Apple accused the commission of « being unjustly guiding » the iPhone manufacturer and said that « it continues to move the goals » despite the company’s efforts to fulfill the rules.
The head of World Meta Affairs, Joel Kaplan, said in a statement that « the commission is trying to reduce successful North -American companies while allowing Chinese and European companies to work under different standards. »
In a press session in Brussels, the Commission’s spokesmen sought to take advantage of the concern that the penalties influence commercial tensions.
« We don’t mind whoever owns a company. We don’t mind where the company is, » the Commission’s spokesman, Thomas Regnier, told journalists. « We are totally agnostic on this front. »
« And it is a Chinese company, it is a North -American company, that is, a European company, you must play according to the rules of the European Union. »
In the case of App Store, the commission had accused the iPhone manufacturer of imposing unfair rules that would prevent the application developers that were freely led by consumers to other channels.
The DMA provisions include the requirements for allowing developers informing customers of the cheapest purchase options and directing these offers.
The commission said that he ordered Apple to eliminate the technical and commercial restrictions that prevent developers from leading users from other channels and ending with « non -compliant » behavior.
Apple said « hundreds of thousands of engineering hours have passed and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have requested. »
« Despite countless meetings, the commission continues to move its goals at each step of the way, » the company said.
The EU Meta Research focused on the company’s strategy to comply with the strict European data privacy rules, giving users the option of paying free versions of Facebook and Instagram ads.
Users could pay at least 10 euros ($ 11.40) a month to prevent ads from being directed based on their personal data. The North -American technological giant deployed the option after the High Court of the European Union ruled the goal first before showing the ads to users.
The regulators were questioned by the finish model, saying that it does not allow users to exercise their right to « consent freely » to allow their personal data from their various services, which also include Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp and Messenger, for personalized ads.
Meta published a third option in November, giving Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option of seeing less personalized ads if they do not want to pay a subscription without ads. The commission said that this option is « evaluating » and continues to have a Meta conversation and asked the company to provide evidence of the impact of the new option.
« This is not just a fine; the commission forces us to change our business model effectively imposes a billionaire rate on the finish line, while also requires that we offer a lower service, » said Kaplan. « And unjustly restricting personalized advertising, the European Commission also hurts European companies and economies. »
The EU has already sanctioned Apple under the DMA, but did not involve a fine. The Bloc took action earlier this year to force the company to open its iPhone and iPad operating systems, describing the steps it has to work better with competing technologies.
& Copy 2025 The Canadian Press
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