Apple and Meta Platforms face EU fines totaling €700 million ($798 million) for breaching Big Tech antitrust rules under the Digital Markets Act. Apple was fined €500 million ($540 million), and Meta €200 million, amid threats of strong U.S. retaliation from President Donald Trump.
For reference, Apple’s average daily profit in fiscal year 2024 was roughly $256.8 million.
See also:
• President Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook called to complain about EU’s $17 billion in fines – October 17, 2024
• Apple CEO Cook ‘probably relieved’ when President Trump won re-election – Gurman – November 18, 2024
• With President Trump inbound, EU reassesses tech probes into Apple, Google and Meta – January 14, 2025
• President Trump blasts EU regulators for targeting Apple, other Big Tech firms – January 23, 2025
Samuel Stolton and Gian Volpicelli for Bloomberg News:
The punishments are far lower than previous penalties under traditional EU competition law, and are likely to be seen as an attempt to avoid further provoking Trump, who recently laid out a swath of tariffs on global economies. He’s specifically called out the EU’s tech regulations as the kind of non-tariff trade barrier that his so-called reciprocal tariffs are intended to target.
The European Commission said that Apple had failed to allow developers to link out from its App Store in order to make sales outside of the company’s marketplace.
Meta’s business model for ad-free services on Instagram and Facebook also fell foul of the tech law, which gives regulators fining powers of up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.
Apple responded fiercely to the EU penalty, accusing the bloc’s regulators of discriminating against the company and forcing it to give away its technology for free. The Cupertino, California-based company said it would appeal the fine to the EU courts.
Meta also hit back, saying the EU “is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
MacDailyNews Take: As we predicted on Monday, “The EU will apply its DMA red tape, but it will do so carefully and sparingly.”
Of course Apple should appeal the ludicrous demand that it should be forced to allow developers to abuse its App Store to post free advertisements for lower prices elsewhere.
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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