Apple and Meta Fined by European Commission for Violating Digital Competition Law

What Happened?

Apple and Meta have become the first American technology companies to be fined by the European Union for violating the EU’s Digital Competition Law. Apple was fined 500 million ($570 million), and Meta was fined 200 million ($230 million) for violating the law, which was passed in 2022. 

The European Commission also issued a statement saying the ongoing tariffs and disputes with the Trump Administration had nothing to do with the rulings against Meta and Apple. Apple and Meta indicated that they plan to appeal the ruling.

Why it Matters

The European Commission ruling against Apple and Meta comes on the heels of a court ruling in the United States against tech giant Google. In the Google case, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on digital advertising. The rulings against Meta and Apple indicate that despite widespread disagreements on a range of issues, both Europe and the United States do agree on the need to reign in big tech companies.

According to Adam Satariano of the New York Times, the European Commission found that Apple violated the Digital Markets Act by restricting how app developers could communicate with customers about sales and other offers.

Meta broke the same law by imposing a ‘consent or pay’ system. It forces users to either allow their personal data to be used to target advertisements or pay a subscription fee for advertising-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.

Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, issued a statement saying, ‘The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.’

Apple vowed to appeal the European Commission ruling while claiming the decision would amount to forcing Apple to give its technology away. An Apple spokesman added, ‘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.’

The European Commission responded to Apple’s claims by saying, ‘Consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers.’ Apple and Meta have sixty days to comply with the new ruling or they could face additional fines.

X, the platform owned by Elon Musk, is also being investigated by the European Commission for violations of the Digital Services Act. A ruling on that investigation is expected in the near future.

How it Affects You

The rulings against big tech companies could lead to a different web browsing experience for billions of users worldwide. If Apple and Meta make changes to their systems to comply with the rulings, that will have an impact on users across the globe. Though exactly what kind of changes will depend heavily on how the tech companies respond.