According to the complaint, Apple infringed on competitors in its online app store App Store and thereby restricted users’ freedom of choice. In particular, Apple did not allow developers to publish links in the App Store that redirect potential customers away from the company’s marketplace.
Meta, which owns the Facebook social network, improperly put users in front of a choice: either pay for access to content without advertising or provide their personal data for advertising purposes, the European Commission said.
The European Commission’s decision was the result of a year-long investigation into whether the companies were complying with the Digital Markets Act, designed to allow smaller competitors into the EU, which is dominated by the largest companies. Both measures were taken “after extensive dialog” with the companies.
The amounts of fines issued are far lower than those previously issued to U.S. companies.
In turn, Apple and Meta criticized the EC’s decision.
Thus, Apple stated that it would challenge the imposed fine in court. According to the company, the EC’s decisions “harm the privacy and security of our users and force us to give away our technology for free”.
Meta said that “the European Commission is trying to hinder the success of American business by allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards”.
