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EU imposes first fines for DMA breaches

The European Commission has fined Apple and Meta a total of €700 million for separate breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). 

The announcements today (23 April) are the first non-compliance decisions adopted under the legislation. 

The EU body fined Apple €500 million for breaching the act’s anti-steering provisions, while it also found that Meta’s ‘consent-or-pay' advertising model did not comply with the DMA. 

The commission also said that it had closed another probe into Apple’s user-choice obligations under the DMA, after “early and proactive engagement” by the tech giant that included changes to make it easier for users to uninstall software applications and change default settings.

Apple ‘restrictions’ 

Under the DMA, according to the commission, app developers distributing their apps through Apple's App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers, and allow them to make purchases. 

The commission found that Apple had failed to comply with this obligation, saying that restrictions imposed by the firm meant that app developers could not fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. 

“Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers,” it stated. 

The EU body has ordered Apple to remove the technical and commercial restrictions on steering. 

‘Consent or pay’ 

The Meta investigation concerned the introduction of its ‘consent-or-pay' advertising model in late 2023. 

This gave EU users of Facebook and Instagram a choice between consenting to personal-data combination for personalised advertising or paying a monthly subscription for an ad-free service. 

The commission found that this model was not compliant with the DMA, as it did not give users the required specific choice to opt for a service that used less of their personal data but was otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads' service. 

New option 

After discussions with the commission, Meta introduced another version of the free-personalised-ads model in November 2024, offering a new option for users. 

The EU body said that it was currently assessing this new option and was continuing its dialogue with Meta on the issue. 

Commissioner Teresa Ribera described the actions taken against both companies as “firm but balanced”. 

“Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms,” she added.