The European Union inflicts 700 million euros fine on Apple and Meta – Liberation

It is a historical fine. The European Commission announced this Wednesday, April 23, financial sanctions against the American giants of Apple and Meta technologies (Facebook, Instagram) on Wednesday, April 23 for competitions, despite the tensions with President Donald Trump on customs duties.

Apple is inflicted a fine of 500 million euros for abusive clauses in its App Store application shop. According to the Commission, the apple brand hinders the capacity of the suppliers of applications distributed in its online store to communicate directly with end users to possibly offer lower rates on other channels. Meta, a giant of social networks, will have to pay 200 million euros for breaking a rule framing the use of personal data for advertising profiling purposes.

These sanctions are the first pronounced within the framework of the new European regulation on digital markets (DMA), which entered into force last year to end the abuse of the dominant position of the tech giants. They work a year after the opening of procedures against the two Californian groups, but especially at a delicate moment for transatlantic relations. The European Union is indeed in full negotiations with the US administration to obtain customs duties imposed by Donald Trump. The White House tenant regularly denounces the taxes, fines and regulatory constraints imposed by Europe on American digital services.

The amount of fines, however, appears moderate compared to those imposed so far on the « Big Tech » by the EU. He should not scare Apple and Meta who posted an annual net profit of 93.7 and 62.4 billion dollars respectively last year, or about 82 and 55 billion euros. The Commission claims to seek the compliance of companies through dialogue, punishment being a means of deterrence but not an objective of the settlement.

However, the bill could quickly fly if Apple and Meta did not show good will. The two companies « Are required to comply with the decisions of the Commission within 60 days, failing which they are exposed to periodic on -calls »warns the commission.

Contrary to use, the announcements were made by simple press release, without a press conference of the European executive. « Today’s decisions send a strong and clear message », said competition commissioner Teresa Ribera, in a statement, qualifying the sanctions of « Farms and balanced ».

Apple said « Unjustly targeted » And immediately announced that the group would appeal while continuing dialogue with regulators. For her part, Meta was even more virulent. « The European Commission is trying to put sticks in prosperous American business wheels while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate according to different standards »said Joel Kaplan, Director of International Affairs of the Group, former member of the Republican Party and ally of Donald Trump.

The Mark Zuckerberg group, however, proposed a modification of its offer to comply, hence a financial sanction below that imposed on Apple. This proposal, currently studied by the commission services, could end the procedure if it is deemed satisfactory.

Apple and Meta, like the other giant in the alphabet sector (Google), are also the subject of multiple procedures for abuse of dominant position, both in Europe and in the United States. More than 200 French media, including TF1, France Télévisions, Radio France and Release,, announced this Wednesday that they attacked Meta to court for « Illegal practices » in online advertising.