The European Union strikes Apple and Meta with hundreds of millions of dollars in new fines, and imposes digital competition rules

London European Union Monitoring Apple and Meta fine Hundreds of millions of euros on Wednesday while they were intensifying the application of digital competition rules for the 27 countries. The European Commission imposed a fine of 500 million euros ($ 571 million) on Apple to prevent user from user to direct user to cheaper options outside the application store. The committee, the European Union’s executive arm, fined the Meta platforms 200 million euros (228 million dollars) because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

The penalties were smaller than the fines of the euros of euros previously slapped by the committee on large technology companies in anti -monopoly cases.

The committee said that Apple and Meta should comply with decisions within 60 days or risk “periodic penalty payments.”

The decisions were expected to come in March, but it seems that officials were arrested amid a multi -commercial war with President Trump, who has repeatedly complained about the Brussels regulations that affect American companies.

The sanctions were issued under the European Union’s digital market law, also known as DMA. It is a sweeping bases book that promotes a group of do and Dons designed to give consumers and companies more choice and prevent the great “gates guards” from turns.

“DMA seeks to ensure that” citizens have complete control on when and how to use their data via the Internet, and companies can communicate freely with their customers. “

“You find the decisions that have been adopted today that both Apple and Meta have removed this free choice of its users and asking this to change their behavior,” said Virkkunen.

Both companies indicated that they would resume.

“The European Commission is trying to hinder successful American companies while allowing Chinese and European companies to work according to different criteria,” said Joel Kaplan, Meta, Director of Global Affairs in Meta. “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 unrestricting personal ads fairly, the European Commission hurts European companies and economies as well.”

Apple accused the “Unlinished targeting” committee, the iPhone maker, and said it was “continuing to transfer goals” despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

In the case of the application store, the committee accused the iPhone maker of imposing unfair bases that prevent applications from consumers freely to other channels.

Among the provisions of DMA are requirements to allow developers to inform customers with cheaper purchase options and direct them to these offers.

The committee said that it ordered Apple to remove technical and commercial restrictions that prevent developers from directing users to other channels, and ending the “non -compatible” behavior.

Apple said it “spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to compliance with this law, and our users did not ask.”

“Despite the endless meetings, the committee continues to move the goals of goals in every step,” the company said.

Apple has also faced a wide anti -monopoly suit in the United States, where The Ministry of Justice claimed California illegally participated in the behavior of competition to combat competition in an attempt to build a “trench about its smartphone monopoly” and increase its profits at the expense of consumers. Fifteen states and provinces of Colombia joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

The European Union Meta’s investigation focuses on the company’s strategy to comply with the rules of strict European data by giving users the option to pay copies of advertising free versions of Facebook and Instagram.

Users can pay at least 10 euros ($ 11) per month to avoid targeting by ads based on their personal data. The American Technology Company put forward the option after the European Union Supreme Court ruled the approval first before presenting ads to users, in a decision that threatened its business model of designing advertisements based on the interests of individual users and digital activity.

The organizers have faced a problem with the Meta model, saying that users do not allow their right exercises to “agree freely” to allow their personal data from its various services, including the Facebook, WhatsApp and MESSENGER market, for customized ads.

Meta launched a third option in November, giving Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option of seeing fewer ads if they do not want to pay for an advertising free subscription. The committee said it was “evaluating” this option currently and continues to hold talks with Meta, and asked the company evidence of the new option’s impact.

The European Commission also has Google slapped with anti -monopoly penalties several timesIncluding a record of $ 5 billion in 2018 on the abuse of the search engine to dominate the Android mobile phone.