Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The European Commission recently found Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook) to violate the recently enacted EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), which regulates the digital market “gatekeepers” that provide services crucial for the digital markets.
The DMA places various obligations and prohibitions on the “gatekeepers” designed to ensure contestability. For example, gatekeepers must allow consumers to choose operating systems and software, and to uninstall default apps. The Commission has so far designated six gatekeepers: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta, ByteDance (TikTok), and Microsoft. Apple and Meta are the first to be fined for DMA violations.
Apple was found to violate the DMA by not allowing app developers on the Apple App Store to steer consumers to alternative offers outside the App Store. Apple restricted developers that the commission did not find to be objectively necessary and proportionate, fining the company €500 million.
Meta was found to violate the DMA by not seeking consent from individuals before combining their personal data, collected from different services. Meta’s “Consent or Pay” model, which forced EU consumers to either consent to combining their personal from several sources or pay for an ad-free service, was scrutinized. The commission clarified that consumers who do not consent must have access to a less personalized but equivalent alternative. Meta was fined €200 million.
Click here to read the Commission’s decision in the matters of Apple and Meta.
