On April 22, 2025, the European Commission announced that Apple and Meta became the first companies to be fined under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), which was enacted in 2023 to increase competition across digital markets in the European Union. The Commission reported that Apple was fined €500 million for breaching the DMA’s anti-steering obligations by restricting app developers whose apps are distributed through Apple’s App Store from informing customers, free of charge, of offers available outside of the App Store, steering them to these offers and allowing them to make purchases there. According to the Commission, the fine was imposed after Apple failed to demonstrate why the current restrictions were objectively necessary and proportionate. In addition to the fine, Apple was ordered by the Commission to remove the anti-competitive restrictions and adopt conduct that complies with the DMA.
The Commission also imposed a €200 million fine on Meta after finding that its “Consent or Pay” binary advertising model breached the DMA’s obligation to provide consumers with service options that use less of their personal data. The binary model, introduced in November 2023, allowed Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union to choose between consenting to receive personalized advertising based on the user’s personal data or pay a monthly fee for an ad-free service. In November 2024, Meta introduced a new version of the free personalized ads model that uses less personal data – an option that is currently being assessed by the Commission. According to the Commission, Meta’s fine covers the period of time that consumers were only offered the binary “Consent or Pay” options.
The Commission reported that each company has 60 days to comply with the rulings.