Why Did Apple And Meta Get Slammed With Over $800 Million Collectively?

Since European antitrust regulators handed out the first sanctions under landmark legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech, Apple and Meta have been fined $570 million and $228 million, respectively.

Why Is Europe On A Fining Spree?

Fines charged by the European Union have the potential to stoke tensions with United States President Donald Trump who is threatening to levy tariffs against countries penalising US companies.

"The sanctions follow a year-long investigation by the European Commission, the EU executive, into whether the companies comply with the Digital Markets Act that seeks to allow smaller rivals into markets dominated by the biggest companies," a Reuters report said.

What Did Apple Do?

Apple said that it would change the EU fine.

"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 a statement.

What Did Meta Do?

Meta critiqued the European Union's decision.

"The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards," it said in a statement.

Meta added that this is not just about a fine and that the Commission was forcing Big Tech companies to change their business model, effectively imposing a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring them to offer an inferior service.

What Does The EU Watchdog Say?

"We have taken firm but balanced enforcement action against both companies, based on clear and predictable rules," the Commission said.

European Union's competition watchdog said that Apple must remove technical and commercial restrictions that prevent app developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store.

Meta's binary pay-or-consent model, which was introduced in November 2023 breached the DMA, it added.

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