Apple and Meta struck the European Union fines, and ordered the improvement of the consumer selection

The European Union campaign began to seriously technology on Wednesday, as the European Commission issued the first fines under Digital Markets LawA piece of organization aimed at preventing the main players in the world of technology from misusing their dominant position in this industry.

The Apple fine is larger than the two, totaling 500 million euros ($ 570 million), and tracks an investigation into whether the company prevents customers from offering and accessing offers that can provide them with money – cheaper flow subscriptions, for example – if they pay outside its ecosystem for the application store. The European Commission found that Apple prevents application developers from informing people of cheaper ways to pay, and ordered the company to change this practice.

Meanwhile, Meta received a fine of 200 million euros (228 million dollars), given the fact that it provides people in Europe a bilateral option either to use Meta- including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp-for free and accepting the company will collect your data through services, or pay a premium to ensure an advertising free experience in which your data is maintained separate.

Since the European Commission initially told Meta that this model did not comply with DMA, the company has provided new practices that provide people more options on how to use their data. But the company is still a fine for its previous model.

The Silicon Valley and the European Union have long have been a separate relationship. For nearly 10 years, the CEO of Apple Tim Cook rejected a huge tax bill for the European Union as a “political foolishness”. But with geopolitical tensions between Europe and the United States in the highlands at the present time, fines are more divided than ever. It is often difficult to see how high-level regulatory decisions affect the technology industry, but you only need to consider Apple to drop the lighting port on iPhone in favor of USB-C charging to understand the strength of the European Union to the effect of technology companies.

The aim of the two -sided digital markets law. It gives up modern technology companies an opportunity to prove themselves in an industry dominated by the richest companies in the world. It is also designed to ensure access to technology users all over Europe (and sometimes beyond that) to the best services and deals, as well as the ability to determine how to spend their money and how to use their data. The European Commission has the authority of companies that reach 10 % of its annual global revenues under this regulation, but these fines are less than this threshold in an attempt to match the violations specified in the law.

“Empowering the choice of free business and consumers is at the heart of the rules stipulated in the Digital Market Law,” said Henna Ferkkounin, Deputy CEO of technological sovereignty at the European Commission. In a statement Tuesday. “This includes ensuring that citizens have full control of when and how to use their data online, and companies can freely communicate with their customers. You find the decisions that have been adopted today that both Apple and Meta have removed this free choice from their users and asks for their behavior.”

But for the Silicon Valley Tech giants, the European Union’s approach can often seem unnecessary punitive, and in some cases it forces them to make changes that they are actually worse for users. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Apple’s Apple spokesman accused the European Commission of transferring the goals of the goals, and said that the company planned to appeal the decision.

The company spokesman said: “Today’s ads are another example of the European Commission, which is not fairly targeting Apple in a series of bad decisions of the privacy and security of our users, and worse for products, and forcing us to abandon our technology for free.” “We spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and we made dozens of changes to compliance with this law, none of them asked our users.”

Meanwhile, Joel Kaplan, chief international affairs official in Mita, said that the European Commission “is trying to hinder successful American companies while allowing Chinese and European companies to work according to different criteria.” He added: “This is not only a fine. The committee that forces us to change our business model actually imposes a tariff of billions of dollars to define while asking us to provide a lower service. By restricting the personal advertisement in an unfair manner, the European Commission hurts European companies and economies as well.”

Meta, who feels upset because of its punishment even after multiple changes on its business model, is likely to appeal to the fine. The company is still designed that there is nothing in the digital market law to justify the changes that the European Commission requires.