That arrives in Apple and goal with hundreds of millions of dollars in new fines, applying digital competition rules

London – Ratios of the European Union Apple fined and goal Hundreds of millions of euros on Wednesday when they intensified the application of the digital competition rules of the 27 nations block. The European Commission imposed a fine of 500 million euros ($ 571 million) in Apple for preventing application manufacturers from pointing to users to cheaper options outside their App Store. The commission, which is the EU executive arm, also fined the platforms of 200 million euros ($ 228 million) because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

The punishments were smaller than the successful Euro multimillion -dollar fines that the Commission has previously slapped the large technological companies in antitrust cases.

Apple and Meta have to comply with decisions within 60 days or the risk of “periodic payments” not specified, said the commission.

Decisions were expected to arrive in March, but officials apparently retained in a growing transatlantic commercial war with President Trump, who has repeatedly complained about Brussels regulations that affect US companies.

The sanctions were issued under the EU digital market law, also known as DMA. It is a broad rules book that is equivalent to a set of not doing and not doing to provide consumers and companies with more options and prevent great technological “guardians” of digital markets in curves.

The DMA seeks to ensure that “citizens have total control over when and how their online data is used, and companies can communicate freely with their own customers,” Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president of technological sovereignty of the commission, said in a statement.

“The decisions taken today find that both Apple and Meta have eliminated this free choice of their users and are required to change their behavior,” said Virkkunen.

Both companies indicated that they would appeal.

“The European Commission is trying to harm successful American companies while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards,” said Meta Meta, Joel Kaplan officer, Joel Kaplan, in a statement provided by the US technological giant. “It is not just a fine; the Commission forces us to change our business model effectively imposes a multimillionaire rate to goal, while demanding us to offer a lower service. And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising, the European Commission is also harming European companies and economies.”

Apple accused the commission of “unjustly pointing to the iPhone manufacturer, and said that” objectives continue to move “despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

In the case of the application store, the Commission had accused the iPhone manufacturer of imposing unfair rules that prevent application developers from freely conducting consumers to other channels.

Among the provisions of the DMA are the requirements to allow developers to inform customers about the cheapest purchase options and direct them to those offers.

The commission said it ordered Apple to eliminate the technical and commercial restrictions that prevent developers from conducting users to other channels and that they end the behavior “not satisfied.”

Apple said that “he has spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked”.

“Despite the innumerable meetings, the commission continues to move the objectives of objectives in each step of the road,” said the company.

Apple has also faced a wide antitrust demand in the United States, where Alleged justice that the California company was illegally dedicated to anti -competitive behavior in an effort to build a “pit around its smartphone monopoly” and maximize their profits at the expense of consumers. Fifteen states and the Columbia district have joined demand as plaintiffs.

The EU research goal focused on the company’s strategy to comply with strict European data privacy rules by giving users the option to pay versions without Facebook and Instagram advertising.

Users could pay at least 10 euros ($ 11) per month to avoid being attacked by ads based on their personal data. The United States technological giant launched the option after the main court of the European Union ruled that the goal must obtain consent before showing ads to users, in a decision that threatened its adaptation business model based on the online interest of individual users and digital activity.

Regulators discouraged with the finish line, saying that it does not allow users to exercise their right to “freely consent” to allow their personal data of their various services, which also include Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp and Messenger, combine for personalized announcements.

Meta implemented a third option in November, giving Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option to see less custom ads if they do not want to pay a subscription without ads. The commission said it is “currently evaluating” this option and continues to maintain talks with a goal, and has asked the company to provide evidence of the impact of the new option.

The European Commission also has He hit Google with antitrust sanctions several timeswhich includes a record fine of $ 5 billion collected in 2018 for the abuse of the market of the market market market of its Android mobile phone operating system.

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• Apple
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• European Union
• Data privacy