{"id":171971,"date":"2025-04-23T12:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=171971"},"modified":"2025-04-23T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:08:10","slug":"eu-slaps-apple-with-a-hefty-fine-for-violating-the-digital-markets-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/eu-slaps-apple-with-a-hefty-fine-for-violating-the-digital-markets-act\/","title":{"rendered":"EU slaps Apple with a hefty fine for violating the Digital Markets Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apple is fined for breaching the Digital Markets Act over rules preventing developers from telling iPhone users about cheaper web payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Marketing <\/p>\n

Today, the European Commission fined both Apple and Meta for violating the European Union\u2019s Digital Markets Act. The Commission slapped the iPhone maker with a hefty fine of 500 million euros, which works out to about $570 million. Meta must pay a fine of 200 million euros, or about $230 million.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s peanuts to Apple, which earns more than $1 billion in revenue each day, on average. But the reputational damage Apple has suffered in the eyes of developers and its customers is immeasurable. This is the first penalty that the bloc issued against the American technology giant under the Digital Markets Act.<\/p>\n

Apple fined for violating the EU\u2019s Digital Markets Act<\/h2>\n

The Digital Markets Act says that gatekeepers like Apple must permit app developers who offer apps on the App Store to \u201cinform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases,\u201d the European Commission wrote in today\u2019s press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mac <\/p>\n

At the heart of the issue is Apple\u2019s user-hostile anti-steering rule, which bars developers from even informing its customers about more affordable subscriptions and other payments that are available on websites. Apple imposes this rule to force developers to use its In-App Purchase mechanism, which lets it collect its fee.<\/p>\n

By permitting developers to steer their users to these web payments, Apple would effectively rob itself of the proceeds via fees. As a result of Apple\u2019s policy, you and I end up paying more when purchasing subscriptions in apps. This is also why apps like Netflix that have opted out of the In-App Purchase feature only display the login button without any explanation as to how to sign up for the service.<\/p>\n

The Commission has ordered the Cupertino tech giant to \u201cremove the technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating the non-compliant conduct in the future,\u201d which includes adopting conduct with an equivalent object or effect.<\/p>\n

Default apps, browser choice screen<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Separately, the Commission announced the closure of its probe against Apple over default app settings on iOS, the browser choice screen and the ability to uninstall any preinstalled apps, including core apps like App Store and Camera<\/a>. Bureaucrats in Brussels found no wrongdoing on Apple\u2019s part as the company adequately changed the process for setting a new default browser on the iPhone.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple also made it easier for users to change default settings for calling, messaging, call filtering, keyboards, password managers and translation services on iPhones,\u201d reads the decision<\/a>. \u201cA new menu now allows users to adjust their default settings in one centralized location, streamlining the customization process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, users can now uninstall several Apple pre-installed apps, such as Safari<\/a> \u2014 a functionality previously unavailable,\u201d the Commission wrote.<\/p>\n

App sideloading and scare screens<\/h2>\n
\"Example<\/figure>\n

The changes Apple previously made to permit alternative app stores in the EU<\/a> and the ability to download and install apps directly from the web didn\u2019t impress the European Commission. It found that Apple\u2019s Core Technology Fee, which developers who sign up for web distribution<\/a> must adhere to was basically put in place to disincentivize developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple also introduced overly strict eligibility requirements, hampering developers\u2019 ability to distribute their apps through alternative channels,\u201d it wrote. \u201cFinally, Apple makes it overly burdensome and confusing for end users to install apps when using such alternative app distribution channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple will have a chance to respond to these findings and convince the European Commission that these scare screens that people in the EU see when trying to download apps from the web or use alternative app stores don\u2019t actually breach the Digital Markets Act.<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s \u201cconsent or pay\u201d model<\/h2>\n

The Commission also fined Meta over its \u201cconsent or pay\u201d advertising model in the EU, which gave Facebook and Instagram a choice between consenting to personalized advertising or paying a monthly subscription for an ad-free service. But Meta didn\u2019t offer those who wouldn\u2019t consent access to a less personalized alternative model that\u2019s equivalent to the personalized ads service.<\/p>\n

Both Apple and Meta are required to comply with the Commission\u2019s decisions within 60 days> Otherwise, the companies risk \u201cperiodic penalty payments\u201d that could reach up to approximately 0.1 percent of their respective annual revenue.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, the Commission has leveraged the Digital Markets Act to force Apple to allow third-party alternatives to critical system features<\/a> such as AirDrop, AirPlay, Apple Watch integration, seamless AirPods pairing and others in the name of interoperability, with these changes coming in iOS 19 and iOS 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source link: https:\/\/www.idownloadblog.com\/2025\/04\/23\/european-commission-fines-apple-meta-digital-markets-act-breach\/<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple is fined for breaching the Digital Markets Act over rules preventing developers from telling iPhone users about cheaper web payments. Today, the European Commission fined both Apple and Meta for violating the European Union\u2019s Digital Markets Act. The Commission slapped the iPhone maker with a hefty fine of 500 million euros, which works out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":171972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allnews","category-appleindustrynews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171973,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171971\/revisions\/171973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}