The European Commission has imposed fines totalling 700 million euros on Apple and Meta for violating digital competition rules, international media reported on 23 April.
Apple must pay 500 million euros for restricting the freedom of developers who were prohibited by the company from directing users to alternative payment methods outside the App Store.
Meta, which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, was fined 200 million euros for a “pay-or-consent” system in which users of these platforms had to either pay for their use or consent to the processing of personal data.
At the same time, the European Commission said Meta and Apple must remedy the violations within 60 days or they will face “regular penalties”.
According to AFP, Apple said it would appeal the European Commission’s fine, calling it “another example of an unfair attack” on the company that harms the privacy of its users.
Meta accused the EU of trying to “interfere with successful American businesses by allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
But EU spokesman Thomas Renier said it was “irrelevant” to the EU who owned the company and where it was based.
These are the first sanctions imposed under the EU’s Digital Market Act (DMA), which came into force last year and aims to protect competition in the digital economy.
The penalties come amid ongoing customs tariff negotiations between the EU and the United States.