European Union regulators said on Wednesday that Apple and Meta were the first companies to be penalized for violating a new law intended to increase competition in the digital economy, ratcheting up tensions with the Trump administration.
Apple was fined 500 million euros ($570 million) and Meta was fined €200 million ($230 million) for breaking the Digital Markets Act, which was adopted in 2022. The European law aims to keep big tech companies from abusing their position as digital gatekeepers that can unilaterally impose requirements on users and businesses.
Apple violated the Digital Markets Act by restricting how app developers could communicate with customers about sales and other offers, according to the European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc. Meta violated it by imposing a “consent or pay” system that forces users to either allow their personal data to be used to target advertisements or pay a subscription fee for advertising-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.
Even as the United States and European Union tussle over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine, there has been some alignment over addressing the market power of the world’s largest tech companies. The tech behemoths have amassed trillions of dollars in share value as owners of products and services that are essential for communication, commerce, information and more.
In the United States, Google suffered two major antitrust defeats over the past year for abusing its power in the search and advertising business. Meta is on trial in Washington over accusations that it squashed competition through acquisitions. Amazon and Apple also face U.S. antitrust lawsuits.
Yet the Trump administration lashed out at the ruling on Wednesday.
“This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States,” said Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation and enable censorship will be recognized as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society.”
