EU fines Apple €500m and Meta €200m in first Digital Markets Act penalties

The European Commission has imposed its first fines under the Digital Markets Act, penalising Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for failing to comply with obligations designed to open up digital markets. The decisions, announced on 23 April 2025, mark the first enforcement actions since the DMA became legally binding in March 2024 and set a benchmark for how aggressively the EU will police its new competition framework for large online platforms.

Apple's App Store restrictions draw the larger penalty

The Commission's case against Apple centres on the company's steering rules, which prevent app developers from informing users about alternative distribution channels or cheaper offers outside the App Store. The Commission found that these restrictions mean developers cannot fully benefit from alternative channels, and consumers cannot discover better prices. Apple has been ordered to remove the restrictions within 60 days or face further penalties.

The €500 million fine represents roughly 0.13% of Apple's $391 billion (approximately €360 billion) in revenue for its last financial year. While substantial in absolute terms, it is a fraction of the 10% of global turnover, some €36 billion, that the DMA allows as a maximum. Commission officials described the 10% figure as a ceiling rather than a parameter for setting fines, noting they took account of the legislation's newness and the relatively short duration of the non-compliance.

Meta's consent-or-pay model fails the DMA test

Meta's penalty relates to the "consent or pay" model it introduced in November 2023 for Facebook and Instagram users in the EU. Under that model, users could either consent to their data being used for personalised advertising or pay a monthly fee for an ad-free experience. The Commission concluded this approach did not comply with the DMA because it did not give users access to an equivalent service based on less personal data. The fine covers the period from March to November 2024, when the original model was in force.

EU officials said they are still assessing a revised version of the free, personalised ads model that Meta introduced in November 2024. That assessment is separate from the infringement decision announced this week. Meta's 2024 revenue of $165 billion (approximately €152 billion) means the €200 million fine amounts to roughly 0.13% of turnover, a similar proportion to Apple's penalty.

Fines calibrated well below the legal maximum

The modest scale of both fines relative to the companies' revenues has drawn attention. The DMA provides for fines of up to 10% of total worldwide turnover for non-compliance, rising to 20% for repeated infringements. For Apple, 10% would be roughly €36 billion; for Meta, roughly €15 billion. Commission officials emphasised that the 10% figure is a ceiling, not a starting point, and that the newness of the rules and the limited period of infringement justified lower penalties. The approach suggests the Commission is signalling seriousness while allowing a transition period for gatekeepers to adapt.

Separate Apple investigation closed after concessions

In a parallel move, the Commission closed an investigation into Apple's compliance with user-choice obligations under Article 6(3) and (4) of the DMA. After what it described as a "constructive dialogue", the Commission accepted that Apple had made sufficient changes: EU users can now uninstall Safari, the Photos app and other pre-installed Apple programs, and the process for choosing a default web browser has been simplified. No fine was imposed in this case. The closure demonstrates that the Commission is willing to resolve some disputes through negotiation rather than litigation, provided the changes are structural and verifiable.

Transatlantic friction and industry pushback

The decisions arrive at a politically sensitive moment. The Trump administration has repeatedly attacked European digital regulation as discriminatory against US technology companies. EU officials have rejected claims that the DMA is being used as a weapon, insisting the rules apply equally to all gatekeepers regardless of origin. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, whose members include both Apple and Meta, called the Commission's enforcement "opaque and discretionary, lacking both predictability and proportionality".

Apple responded with a sharply worded statement accusing the Commission of "unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free." The company said it had spent "hundreds of thousands of engineering hours" and made dozens of changes attempting to comply, and alleged the Commission moved the goalposts "every step of the way". Meta's Joel Kaplan went further, arguing the Commission was "attempting to handicap successful American business" while allowing Chinese and European firms to operate under different standards, and characterising the forced business-model change as a "multibillion-dollar tariff".

Consumer groups welcome the enforcement

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) praised the decisions. Its director general, Agustín Reyna, said Apple and Meta had "had ample time to comply with the Digital Markets Act but instead have delayed compliance and tried to twist the rules to their advantage." BEUC's support underscores that the DMA's political constituency extends beyond regulators to civil society groups that have long argued dominant platforms exploit their market power to the detriment of users and smaller businesses.

Appeals and the next enforcement frontier

Both companies have confirmed they will appeal to the General Court of the European Union, with Meta expected to seek an interim suspension of the fine. The appeals process could take years, during which the fines are typically paid into a blocked account. Meanwhile, the Commission's assessment of Meta's November 2024 revised model remains open, and further investigations into other gatekeepers, including Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and ByteDance, are at various stages. The Commission has also opened non-compliance proceedings against Apple and Alphabet over their new App Store and Play Store fees for alternative distribution, suggesting the first wave of DMA enforcement is only beginning.