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Apple is the first company to be charged by European Union antitrust regulators under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), an act which is intended to “comprehensively regulate the gatekeeper power of the largest digital companies.”

Reuters reports that “EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager cited issues with Apple’s new terms, saying that they fell short of complying with the DMA,” and that Apple may be able to avoid related fines if they modify their business terms to address those issues. Otherwise, the DMA violation fines could be as high as “10% of a company’s global annual turnover.” 

According to Reuters, the investigation was launched in March, and initial findings were recently sent to Apple on Monday, June 24.

The Verge further quotes Vestager as saying that “Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering,” and that “Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers.” Apple spokesperson Peter Ajemian sent a statement to The Verge, which you can read here. 

The Verge goes on to report that prior to the DMA, EU regulators had fined Apple €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) due to anti-steering practices in Apple’s App Store.

Meta Platforms has also come under EU scrutiny per the DMA, according to another Reuters report. The EU’s European Commission has taken issue with the binary choice presented by Meta to its users to either consent to be tracked and receive a service for free, or to pay for an ad-free service. The charge against Meta came a week after the charge against Apple. 

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Katie Stephan
Katie Stephan Author
Katie Stephan is the Senior Content Strategist at FastSpring. Besides her extensive marketing experience, she has an MFA in creative nonfiction writing and has served her local communities as a college writing instructor.
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