EU cuts Apple and dollar with hundreds of millions of dollars in new fines, enforcing digital competition rules

London – EU Watchdog Fine Apple and Dollar They were hundreds of millions of euros on Wednesday when they stepped up enforcement of the G27-nation rule. The European Commission has prevented app manufacturers from pointing to options outside their app stores to prevent app manufacturers from pointing to 500 million euros ($571 million) fines to Apple. The commission, the EU executive, also fined the dollar platform 200 million euros ($228 million) as it forces Facebook and Instagram users to choose between watching ads or paying to avoid them.

These penalties are smaller than the huge fines the Commission had slapped large tech companies in antitrust cases.

The committee said Apple and Meta must comply with the decisions within 60 days, otherwise there may be unspecified “regular fines.”

The decisions are expected to take place in March, but officials have clearly delayed it due to the escalating transatlantic trade war with President Trump, who has repeatedly complained about Brussels’ regulations affecting U.S. companies.

The fine is issued under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (also known as the DMA). This is a comprehensive rulebook, equivalent to a set of Do and Ant, designed to provide more options for consumers and businesses and prevent large-scale tech “goalkeepers” from turning around the digital market.

The DMA seeks to ensure that “citizens have complete control over when and how their data is used online and that businesses can communicate freely with their own customers.”

“The decision passed today found that both Apple and Meta took this free option from users and needed to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.

Both companies said they would appeal.

“The European Commission is trying to allow Chinese and European companies to operate at different standards,” Joel Kaplan, Chief Global Affairs Officer, said in a statement provided by the U.S. tech giant: “The European Commission is trying to disability while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate at different standards. “It’s more than a fine; the committee forces us to change our business model, effectively imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on the elements of the dollar, while also requiring us to provide inferior services. Moreover, the unfair restriction of personalized advertising by the European Commission has also harmed European businesses and the economy. ”

Apple accused the committee of “unfairly targeting” the iPhone maker and said it was “continuing to move target positions” despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

In the App Store case, the committee accused iPhone manufacturers of imposing unfair rules to prevent app developers from turning consumers freely to other channels.

In the DMA regulations, developers are required to inform customers of cheap purchase options and direct them to these offers.

The committee said it ordered Apple to remove technical and commercial restrictions to prevent developers from turning users to other channels and ending “non-compliant” behavior.

Apple said it has spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with the law, with none of our users asking for it. ”

“Despite numerous meetings, the committee continues to move target positions at every step,” the company said.

Apple also faces widespread antitrust lawsuits in the United States The Ministry of Justice said The California company illegally engages in anti-competitive practices to build a “moat around its smartphone monopoly” and maximize profits at the expense of consumers. 15 states and the District of Columbia joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs.

The EU’s META survey is centered on the company’s strategy to comply with strict European data privacy rules, allowing users to choose to pay for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.

Users can pay at least €10 ($11) per month to avoid targeting advertising based on their personal data. The U.S. tech giant launched the option before the EU’s Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. tech giant had to agree before displaying ads to users, a decision threatening its business model based on individual users’ online interests and digital activities.

Regulators have questioned Meta’s model, saying it does not allow users to exercise their “free consent” rights to allow personal data in its various services, including Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp and Messenger, to merge into personalized advertising.

Meta launched its third option in November, giving European Facebook and Instagram users the option to view personalized ads if they don’t want to pay for free ad subscriptions. The committee said it is “currently evaluating” this option and continues to hold talks with META and asks the company to provide evidence of the impact of the new option.

The European Commission also has Google took several shots with antitrust punishmentwhich included a record $5 billion fine in 2018 as search engines abused the market advantage of their Android phone operating system.