In other European news elsewhere, the European Commission has just issued massive fines against US tech giants Apple and Meta for breaching its digital regulation, the Digital Markets Act.
The commission found that Apple breached the DMA’s “anti-steering obligation” for developers of apps distributed on App Store and has been fined €500m.
Separately, Meta was fined €200m for “breaching the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data after introducing a Consent or Pay model in 2023.
The full explanation for both decisions is here.
European Commission executive vice-president Teresa Ribera said the decisions “send a strong and clear message,” fining the companies for falling short of compliance with the rulebook.
“As a result, we have taken firm but balanced enforcement action against both companies, based on clear and predictable rules. All companies operating in the EU must follow our laws and respect European values,” she said.
But the move is likely to trigger an angry reaction from the US, as president Donald Trump repeatedly criticised EU regulations and what he perceived as taking aim at US companies.
Given the already tricky EU-US relations as a result of Trump’s aggressive trade policy, this could see the tensions rise further.