Apple, Meta and Google face fines of billions of euros after the European Union opened the first investigations under new laws designed to rein in Big Tech.
Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton, the EU’s competition and digital markets chiefs, announced five investigations into the three companies on Monday.
They concern areas including the companies’ smartphone app stores and Meta charging a monthly fee to users in Europe who do not want to see adverts on Facebook and Instagram.
It comes less than three weeks after the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force. The laws are designed to rein in so-called gatekeepers – Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok owner ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft – which face fines of up to 10pc of their annual revenue for not complying with the law.
In Apple’s case, this would be up to $38bn (£30bn), for Google $30.7bn and for Meta $13.4bn.
Earlier this month Apple was fined €1.8bn (£1.5bn) for breaking EU competition laws by favouring its own music streaming service over rivals.
The investigations concern Google and Apple rules restricting how apps can promote cheaper subscriptions outside of the companies’ app stores, Google promoting its own services in search results, Apple offering alternative web browsers to Safari, and Meta charging a monthly fee for a version of Facebook and Instagram without adverts.
The European Commission said the fee, of up to €13 a month, “may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent [to personalised adverts]”.
It could mean Meta being forced to offer a version of Instagram and Facebook without personalised adverts for free, which would mark a major challenge to its business model.
Mr Breton said: “We are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses. Should our investigation conclude that there is lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could face heavy fines.”
He added that the EU was considering further investigations into Amazon for favouring its own brands in search results, and Apple for rules it imposes on rival iPhone app stores.
The investigations show that the EU is seeking to move quickly in enforcing its new laws, after criticism that regulators struggle to keep up with technological changes.
Apple said: “We’re confident our plan complies with the DMA, and we’ll continue to constructively engage with the European Commission as they conduct their investigations.” Google said: “We have made significant changes to the way our services operate in Europe,” adding: ”We will continue to defend our approach in the coming months.”
Meta defended charging users as an alternative to advertising, saying: “We will continue to engage constructively with the Commission.”
Daniel Friedlaender, the European head of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a lobby group that represents the tech industry, criticised opening the investigations while companies are still going through early “workshops” to work out how to comply with the laws.
“The timing of these announcements, while the DMA compliance workshops are still ongoing, makes it look like the Commission could be jumping the gun,” he said. “Possible outcomes aside, this move risks confirming industry fears that the DMA compliance process might end up being politicised.”
