23 April 2025 : Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. were hit by relatively modest European Union fines totaling €700 million ($798 million) for violating tough new antitrust rules for Big Tech following warnings of harsh retaliation from US President Donald Trump.
EU regulators levied the penalties — €500 million against Apple and €200 million against Meta — under its Digital Markets Act, which includes a list of dos and don’ts for Silicon Valley giants.
The punishments are far lower than previous penalties under traditional EU competition law, and are likely to be seen as an attempt to avoid further provoking Trump, who recently laid out a swath of tariffs on global economies. He’s specifically called out the EU’s tech regulations as the kind of non-tariff trade barrier that his so-called reciprocal tariffs are intended to target.
The European Commission said that Apple had failed to allow developers to link out from its App Store in order to make sales outside of the company’s marketplace.
Meta’s business model for ad-free services on Instagram and Facebook also fell foul of the tech law, which gives regulators fining powers of up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.
“Apple and Meta have fallen short,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said. “All companies operating in the EU must follow our laws and respect European values.”
Summary: The EU fines Apple $500 million and Meta $200 million for antitrust violations. The move intensifies tensions with Donald Trump, who threatens retaliatory tariffs.