London (AP) – European Union monitoring has been fined apple and Dead Hundreds of millions of euros on Wednesday while escalating to enforce the bloc 27 countriesDigital competition rules.

The European Commission imposed a fine of 500 million euros ($ 571 million) on ApplePrevent applications makersFrom directing users to cheaper options outside their application store.

The committee, the European Union’s executive arm, also fined the definition platforms 200 million euros because they areForced FacebookInstagram users to choose between seeing customized ads or payment to avoid them.

The sanctions were smaller thanBlockbusterFines in millions of euros, which the committee had previously slapped on major technology companies inAnti -monopolyCases.

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

The decisions were expected to come in March, but the deadline it imposed in the midst of a multi -commercial war with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly complained about the Brussels regulations that affect American companies.

The sanctions were the first to be issued under the European Union’s digital market law, also known as DMA. It is a sweeping rules book that reaches aA group of what he does not doIt is designed to give consumers and companies more choice and prevent the large “gates guards” from technology 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, “Hanna Verkounin, Executive Vice President of the Commission for Technological Sovereignty said in a statement.

“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.

Apple accused the committee of “unfair targeting”, the iPhone, and said it “continues to transfer goals” despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

“The committee is trying to hinder successful American companies while allowing Chinese and European companies to work under various criteria,” Joel Kaplan, the chief global affairs official in Meta, said in a statement.

At a press conference in Brussels, the committee spokesman sought to reduce fears that the sanctions would lead to trade tensions.

“We do not care about those who own a company. We do not care about the location of the company,” said the committee spokesman Thomas Regnene. “We do not know completely on that front.”

“Whether it is a Chinese company, be an American company, or whether it is a European company, you will have to play with the rules of the European Union.”

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 none of them asked.”

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

The descriptive investigation of the European Union focuses on the company’s strategy to comply withThe rules for the strict European dataBy giving users an option to pay for ads free from Facebook and Instagram.

Users can pay at least 10 euros ($ 11.40) per month to avoid targeting by ads based on their personal data. The American technology giant presented the option after the European Union Supreme Court rulingMeta must first get approvalBefore showing ads for users.

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

Matta A publishedThe third optionIn November, Facebook and Instagram users in Europe were given the choice of seeing fewer customized ads if they do not want to pay for an advertising free subscription. The committee said that it is “evaluating” this option currently and continues to hold talks with Meta, and asked the company evidence of the new option impact.

“This is not only a fine,” Kaplan said. ” “By unrestricted the personal advertisement, the European Commission hurts European companies and economies.”

The European Union has already punished Apple under DMA, but it did not involve a fine. The bloc took the measures earlier this year to force the company onto openIts iPhone and iPad operating systems by identifying the steps that you should take to work better with competing technologies.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

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2025-04-23 15:52:00