EU fines Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for breaking digital market rules

The European Commission announced on Wednesday it was issuing Apple and Meta with fines for €500 million ($570 million) and €200 million ($228 million) respectively, after investigations concluded that both companies had breached the bloc's new Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The fines are the first issued under the DMA, which came into effect last year, and potentially risk provoking the ire of President Donald Trump — who has previously railed against the EU’s regulatory activities as a form of non-tariff trade barrier — amid ongoing trade negotiations.

Apple was found to have breached the DMA’s anti-steering obligation, a rule that prevents companies from designing large online platforms so that customers are pushed towards generating revenues for the platform operator rather than the other businesses also using the platform — for instance by allowing Spotify to link to where customers could subscribe to the app directly rather than through the App Store.

Meta was found to have failed to give consumers “the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data” through its “pay or consent” advertising model, with the Commission finding the model undermines the ability for consumers to freely consent to the use of their personal data.

Henna Virkkunen, who leads the Commission's work on tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said the DMA ensures “that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online, and businesses can freely communicate with their own customers.

“The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice from their users and are required to change their behaviour,” Virkkunen added.

The fines are smaller than the antitrust penalties the Commission hit both companies with last year, when Apple was ordered to pay €1.8 billion for abusing its control of the App Store and Meta €800 million over its classified advertising business.

However unlike the antitrust penalties, the new fines come amid increasing trade tensions between the European Commission and the United States. The breaches could have come with fines of up to 10% of the companies’ global annual revenue — equivalent to $39 billion for Apple, and $16 billion for Meta in 2024.

It is not clear whether the size of the fines was reduced in an attempt to avoid provoking retaliation from the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Trump placed a 25% tariff on EU imports and described the bloc as being “formed to screw the United States.”

Apple pledged on Wednesday to appeal the fine and accused the European Commission of unfairly targeting the company.

Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan — formerly a White House deputy chief of staff, described as maneuvering the company closer to the Trump administration — similarly accused the EU of “attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.

“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service,” stated Kaplan.

Meta added that the company is likely to appeal the decision and views the Commission’s actions as part of ongoing trade negotiations with the United States.

Teresa Ribera, one of the bloc's executive vice presidents, said: “Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms.

“As a result, we have taken firm but balanced enforcement action against both companies, based on clear and predictable rules. All companies operating in the EU must follow our laws and respect European values,” Ribera added.