The EU Commission has announced plans to launch legal action against two major US technology companies, Apple and Meta, before the summer in order to limit their market power. This comes after both companies were found to have violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and failed to comply with stricter rules under EU law since March.
Apple is expected to be the first company charged, with Meta following shortly after. The Commission has raised concerns about Apple’s App Store practices and the fees that developers have to pay for using third-party purchasing options. As for Meta, the Commission is opposing paid subscriptions with non-personalized ads from Facebook and Instagram in the EU.
The noyb organization, founded by data protection activist Max Schrems, has also raised concerns about data protection issues related to the paid versions offered by Meta. The Commission is giving both companies the opportunity to make changes before taking legal action, but charges could be brought in the coming weeks if no action is taken.
Failure to comply with EU regulations could result in fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover for these companies. Apple has already been fined by the EU Commission in March for abusing its dominant market position in distributing music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users, resulting in a 1.8 billion euro fine which Apple has appealed.
