According to foreign media reports from Bloomberg and Politico, the European Commission fined Apple and Meta 500 million euros and 200 million euros respectively on April 23 local time under the Digital Markets Act.
Among them, the EU accused Apple of failing to allow developers to link to external platforms for sales from its App Store, violating relevant regulations of the Digital Markets Act regarding app stores. Meta was fined because its Instagram and Facebook offered ad-free paid services. According to Bloomberg's report, compared with the previous penalties imposed by the EU for market monopoly behavior, this fine is considered "a slap on the wrist." In recent years, the EU has repeatedly launched antitrust investigations against Google and has cumulatively issued fines totaling 8.25 billion euros. Previously, the EU also accused Apple of enjoying "unfair" low tax rates in Ireland and ordered Apple to pay back taxes of 13 billion euros to Ireland by 2024.
Bloomberg pointed out that the EU hopes to avoid escalating tensions with former U.S. President Donald Trump and fears retaliation through tariffs. The Trump administration has been warning the EU not to over-regulate American tech giants. Trump previously named the EU's technology regulations as non-tariff trade barriers targeted by what he called "reciprocal tariffs."
As introduced, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is one of the EU's regulations targeting tech giants to combat monopolistic behavior in 2023. It aims to ensure consumers have more choices when using online services by curbing malicious competition among large tech platforms. Notably, this is the first fine issued by the EU based on this act since it officially came into effect on March 7, 2024.
According to the provisions of the Digital Markets Act, if the EU Commission determines that these companies are in violation, they will face fines up to 10% of their global annual turnover. For repeat offenders, the fine will increase to 20%.
Analysts pointed out that although the expected fine amount is below the 10% cap, this punishment will still become a landmark case since the implementation of DMA, demonstrating the EU's determination to regulate large tech companies.
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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7496465893271241257/
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