EU to impose minimal fines on Apple and Meta to avoid ire of Trump - FT
Photo: Donald Trump, 47th President of the United States of America (Getty Images)
Next week, the EU plans to impose fines on Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act. The punishment will be minimal to avoid the ire of Donald Trump, the Financial Times reports.
According to sources familiar with the EU's decision, Apple will be fined and required to revise App Store rules. In particular, the investigation into the design of the web browser choice screen will be closed.
Meta, in turn, will be required to change its "pay or consent" model, which forces users to agree to data tracking or pay for using the company's products without ads.
The companies could be fined up to 10% of their global revenue, amounting to billions of dollars. However, the European Commission wants the fines to be significantly lower because the EU's digital regulations are relatively new, and the decisions could be challenged in court.
According to the FT, any fines on American tech companies risk provoking a response from Trump, who has called such penalties "a form of taxation" and "overseas extortion."
The planned decisions are expected to be presented to EU members on Friday. The announcement of the fines is scheduled for next week, though the timeline may change.
As RBC-Ukraine previously reported, in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Trump to prevent the EU from fining US tech companies.
