Apple, Meta Fined Over $700m Under EU’s Digital Markets Act Amid Rising Transatlantic Tech Tensions

Apple and Meta have become the first companies to be sentenced to a fine under the Digital UNION Digital Markets (DMA), in a historic decision which has rekindled transatlantic tensions and drawn from renewed accusations of masked political reprisals in the antitrust application.

The European Commission announced Tuesday that Apple would pay a fine of 500 million euros (around $ 570 million) for violation of DMA rules through its restrictions on the App Store, while Meta faces a controversial advertising model on Facebook and $ 230 million) on its controversial penalty “ Pay or Consent or Consent ‘on Facebook and Instagram.

The Commission said the two companies had 60 days to comply or cope with current sanctions that could increase considerably. Apple and Meta both said that they will call on decisions, Apple condemning the decision as “unfair” and “dangerous for the privacy of users” and meta accusing the commission of imposing what is equivalent to a “price of several billion dollars” on American companies.

But beyond legal quarrels and business demonstrations, fines are interpreted by certain analysts and observers as a deeper political decision – a form of EU economic reprisals, years of manufacturing, in response to the prices of former President Donald Trump on European goods.

Long -memory politics of Europe and the great Bullseye technology

The EU has long noted that it would not remain inactive in the face of what it considers as protectionist measures of Washington. When the Trump administration has imposed refined prices on European steel, aluminum and other goods during its first mandate, European officials have publicly sworn not only by direct countermeasures, but by intensifying the application against dominant American companies operating in Europe. Brussels’ regulatory objective has greatly turned to Big Tech, with repeated threats and formal surveys on Apple, Meta, Google and Amazon after.

Essentially, criticisms of the latest measures of the Commission argue that the fines are more than legal sanctions – these are political signals intended for Washington, in particular the administration of Trump, which found a common cause with the CEOs of the most powerful companies of Silicon Valley. Trump’s support for Apple and Meta, as well as his vocal disdain for EU’s “anti-American” technological policies, has only been incorporating this perception.

Inside penalties

Apple has been found guilty of blocking applicants of applications to inform users of alternative payment methods or to link to external websites where subscriptions and services could be purchased at lower costs – a practice known as the “anti -space”. The Commission said that this behavior “has undermined the choice of users” and limited equitable competition, offering directly to the DMA, which entered into force in May 2023 to reduce the monopoly trends of so -called “goalkeeper” companies.

Apple, however, insists that its measures are based on user protection. “We have spent hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering and made dozens of changes to respect this law,” said Apple spokesperson Emma Wilson. “The Commission continues to move the goal posts … We will call and continue to commit to the service of our European customers.”

Meta, on the other hand, was sentenced to a fine for having offered EU users that two options on Facebook and Instagram: pay an experience without advertising or consent to monitoring and harvesting data to continue using the platform for free. The Commission determined that this “to take or feel” model violates the requirement of the DMA for a choice of real and significant users in the way their data is processed.

The senior Meta policy, Joel Kaplan, retaliated. “The Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively requires a price of several billion dollars on Meta while forcing us to offer lower service,” he said. “It is not only a fine. It is a question of injuring American companies under the cover of equity.”

Amount of frustration in Washington

Washington took note. President Trump, who previously described the EU antitrust crusade as an “economic war”, would have raised the issue of private discussions with European leaders. Lobbyists of American technology have also warned that DMA and its application mechanisms – may become a de facto income generator for the EU at the expense of Silicon Valley.

Last year, the Financial Times indicated that the European Commission weighed a change in tone – softening its aggressive approach in the middle of the pressure of US officials. But the fines issued this week suggest that Brussels has chosen to double the application, even if the concerns about transatlantic trade tensions increase.

The maximum sanctions under DMA are high: up to 10% of the global turnover of a company for a first offense and 20% for repeated violations. For Apple, this could result in more than $ 39 billion and for Meta, around $ 16 billion. Although the fines announced on Tuesday are much lower than these thresholds, the message is undoubtedly.

Wider repression is looming

The commission does not stop with Apple and Meta. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is currently the subject of a survey for having allegedly favored its own services in research results and using similar “anti-stereeration” measures in its Google Play store. Amazon and Microsoft, also designated as guardians as part of the DMA, are expected to cope with new control as the law application develops.

While Apple and Meta are preparing their calls and Brussels prepares more busy measures, the fight against the future of the Internet and which controls it with deeper geopolitical currents.

At the heart of the battle is a question which now extends far beyond the application stores and advertising models: which writes the rules of the digital economy – Silicon Valley or Brussels? For Europe regulators, the answer is increasingly clear. For us, the technology giants and their most powerful funder in the White House, the verdict is the one they are determined to challenge.