EU Fines Apple and Meta for Digital Markets Act Violations

The European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros (about $566 million) and Meta 200 million euros (about $226 million) Wednesday (April 23), saying the companies violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Apple breached the DMA’s anti-steering obligation by imposing restrictions that prevent app developers from informing consumers about offers that are available outside Apple’s App Store, the commission said in a Wednesday press release.

Together with the fine, the commission ordered Apple to remove these restrictions, per the release.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

In a statement provided to CNBC, the company said: “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.”

In the case of Meta, the commission said in its press release that the company breached the DMA’s obligation to enable consumers to choose a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the “personalized ads” service.

Meta’s “Consent or Pay” model, which was introduced in November 2023 and required EU users of Facebook and Instagram to consent to personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free service, does not comply with the DMA, the release said.

Another model that Meta introduced in November, which uses less personal data to display ads, is being assessed by the commission and is not included in this decision, according to the release.

Meta responded to the decision with a statement saying that the commission is trying to handicap American businesses while allowing Chinese and European ones to operate under different standards.

“This isn’t just about a fine; the commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multibillion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service,” Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in the statement. “And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising, the European Commission is also hurting European businesses and economies.”

These are the first penalties imposed under the DMA, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The report added that Google and X may be the next firms to face such fines.