Apple and Meta hit with the EU’s first DMA antitrust fines
Apple and Meta are the first companies to be fined for violations under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission announced today that Apple has been served a €500 million (about $570 million) penalty after ruling that its App Store “anti-steering” practices failed to comply with DMA antitrust rules. Meta has been fined €200 million (about $230 million) following similar charges regarding Facebook and Instagram’s ‘pay or consent’ ad model. Both companies will have to change their software and practices following the ruling.
The DMA became law in May 2023, and is designed to increase competition across digital markets within the EU. Companies designated under the law as “gatekeepers” — Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, and Microsoft — over “core platform services” they offer must comply with rules intended to reduce anticompetitive behavior. Companies can be charged up to 10 percent of their annual global revenue for DMA violations, and up to 20 percent for repeat offenses.
Apple was charged for violating DMA rules over App Store restrictions that prevented developers from promoting pricing or alternative distribution channels within their apps, or freely linking out to web pages where customers can pay or subscribe to their services. In its own compliance report, Apple says the compliance measures it has taken to open up its App Store place users and developers at greater risk, and that it will “continue to urge the European Commission to allow it to take other measures to protect its users.”
Meta was charged for forcing Facebook and Instagram users to either pay a subscription fee to remove ads, or consent to having their personal data used for ad-supported versions of the platforms. To address the DMA compliance violations, Meta has allowed Facebook and Instagram users within the EU who don’t pay to remove ads to see fewer unskippable, full-screen “personalized ads.” Meta said in a compliance report published on March 6th that it has “continued to receive additional demands that go beyond what is written in the law” despite its efforts to comply with DMA requirements.
The initial compliance investigations into Apple and Meta were announced in March 2024, alongside plans to investigate Google’s parent company Alphabet over concerns regarding treating its own services more favorably in Search rankings compared to services provided by third-party rivals. Like Apple, Google is also being scrutinized over “anti-steering” practices in its app marketplace — meaning behavior that market-dominating platforms use to dissuade consumers from using alternative services.
The fines announced today are below the maximum penalties of around $16 billion for Meta and $39 billion for Apple based on 2024 earnings. The Financial Times reported in January that the EU was planning to soften its regulatory practices around Big Tech following an increase in pressure from the US, with the new EU Commission that took office in December reportedly being more focused on enforcing compliance than issuing hefty fines.
Apple is no stranger to EU antitrust penalties, having previously been fined €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) last year over the App Store’s anti-steering practices following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Spotify — a case that predates the DMA. Meta was also fined €797.7 million (about $840 million) in November last year for giving itself unfair market advantages by linking Facebook and Marketplace, and €1.2 billion (about $1.3 billion) in 2023 for transferring the Facebook data of EU citizens to the US.
These fines come as tensions are rising between European policymakers and US President Donald Trump, who has befriended deep-pocketed US tech CEOs that have likened EU fines placed against their companies to a form of taxation.
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