Fines totaling 700 million euros on Apple and Meta Platforms are "proportionate" and acknowledge there is a "learning curve" for compliance with the EU’s flagship tech law, competition commissioner Teresa Ribera told MLex. She noted positive talks with the two companies over crafting new services that comply with the Digital Markets Act, but said further fines could be possible if non-compliance continues.
Fines totaling 700 million euros (around $800 million) on Apple and Meta Platforms are "proportionate" and acknowledge there is a "learning curve" for compliance with the EU’s flagship tech law, Teresa Ribera told MLex. The EU’s competition commissioner noted positive talks with the two companies over crafting new services that comply with the Digital Markets Act. But she said further fines could be possible, if non-compliance continues.
Today, the European Commission levied its first financial penalties under the DMA — a key new law that ensures companies including Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft keep their services open for rivals and business users.
Apple was fined 500 million euros for restrictive terms applied to its AppStore, while Meta must pay a sanction of 200 million euros for not giving users a choice to access social-network services that gather less-personalized data. They now have 60 days to make changes to those services (see here).
"It is a new law and we understand that. This is why we thought that the fines should be proportionate and should have this learning curve in place," Ribera said. "I think this is a positive approach. That's a point that provides some optimism on how well we are going to manage the possibilities to comply within the deadline."
The level of the fines accounted for the fact that the legislation is new, the periods of non-compliance were short, and, for Meta, the regulatory landscape was complicated given privacy-law obligations, EU officials said.
The companies and the US administration have criticized the EU’s use of the DMA, saying it unfairly singles out America’s most successful corporations and is tantamount to a tax on business.
"The most important thing is to reassure every user, every consumer, that we ensure the enforcement of the law, no matter who, and no matter in which context," Ribera told MLex.
She said Apple and Meta knew the "expectations" of the DMA to create open and fair markets, and she noted there had been "good improvements" in some aspects of their compliance. But today’s fines show the companies have fallen short.
"We need to keep on going. If the business model is to be alone in the markets, that is not going to comply with our rules," she warned. She stressed the DMA was indifferent to the origin of any company that falls under its scope.
Ribera noted that her staff had been working well with the companies on compliance options. After 60 days of talks over further changes, there is always the possibility to impose a daily fine to enforce compliance.
"The whole purpose of the exercise is to comply. And if the only way to [make them] understand that they need to comply is [by] fining them, we will have to go through that," she said.
In November, Meta introduced a new option for users to access its social networks with the service powered by contextual ads, rather than ones based on more personal data-gathering. Apple has also been floating changes to its app ecosystem to give developers more opportunities to sell their services.
"The process will remain open and will allow us to introduce new fines in case they do not comply," Ribera said.
For Meta, "we are testing and checking," the commissioner explained. She said her staff were "not fully convinced" of Meta’s offer and needed to make further assessments. But she said it was a "good start."
"The same with Apple. There were improvements in some of the issues that were already open. And of course, there are still things that we see that do not completely fulfill the obligations under the DMA, but yes, I could say that it is a positive signal," Ribera told MLex.
"It is a signal that they take seriously the intention of the regulators in Europe."
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