EU allegedly plans only "moderate" fine against Apple for DMA violation
According to a media report, "very serious" violations of EU law by Apple are to be punished comparatively mildly. Billions are at stake.
European Parliament: The Digital Markets Act is intended to (better) regulate digital markets.
(Image: Bild: PP Photos/Shutterstock.)
In the conflict over Apple's possible violations of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), there are first signs of how expensive it could be for the iPhone manufacturer. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the EU Commission is initially only planning “moderate” fines – although it would be possible to collect many billions of euros via the DMA.
Conflict avoidance tactics?
The law allows the EU to collect up to ten percent of global annual turnover, which for Apple would be almost 40 billion US dollars for the 2024 financial year. However, it is still unclear how “moderate” the fine will actually be. According to the report, however, it currently appears that the Commission is more interested in applying the DMA rather than sanctioning companies. It is also conceivable that the EU at least does not want to fuel a direct conflict with the Trump administration, as the DMA is primarily about US companies.
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In a recent government statement, Trump emphasized that he would impose new tariffs on countries that impose penalties on American companies. The EU emphasizes that it is not only targeting US companies – but that they dominate the technology market targeted by the DMA. However, the EU has not yet made a final decision, which is expected this month. Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera from Spain is new in office, replacing – Margrethe Vestager from Denmark, who is controversial, at least among US companies –.
Apple has already paid billions
In addition to Apple, Meta, formerly Facebook, is also set to benefit from “moderate” fines. However, the money involved is significantly less than that of Apple. The iPhone company is said to have violated the DMA with its handling of the App Store, among other things. It was previously said that the EU wanted to make a real example of Apple. However, this was in the fall, before Trump moved back into the White House.
In June, the EU Commission officially warned Apple that it must give developers new opportunities to advertise their products outside the App Store. The iPhone manufacturer recently presented a compliance plan. In addition to iOS, iPadOS is also regulated, whereas the Mac is not. Apple recently had to forfeit a lot of money in the EU: after a final defeat before the European Court of Justice, it had to pay 13 billion euros for subsidy violations at its EU headquarters in Ireland and 1.8 billion euros for App Store discrimination against the music service Spotify.
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