Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the Commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively.
The two decisions come after extensive dialogue with the companies concerned allowing them to present in detail their views and arguments.
[…] On 25 March 2024, the Commission opened non-compliance investigations into Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and Meta’s “pay or consent model”. On 24 June 2024 and 1 July 2024, the Commission respectively informed Apple and Meta of its preliminary view that the companies were in breach of the DMA.
Apple and Meta had the possibility to exercise their rights of defence by examining in detail all the documents in the Commission’s investigation files and comprehensively replying in writing to the Commission’s preliminary findings. The Commission can fine non-compliant companies up to 10 % of their global annual turnover.