The European Commission, executive arm of (EU), announced, on Wednesday (23), the imposition of fines of 500 million euros (2.8 billion reais) against AE of 200 million (1.13 billion reais) to giants of the digital sector, for violation of current rules on competition. These are the first fines imposed by the Commission based on the Digital Market Law (DMA), which came into force last year and requires the sector giants to adjust to European competition standards. The commission warned that prices may increase if companies do not start adaptation within 60 days.
Since returning to the White House, the DMA and the accompanying law, the Digital Services Law (DSA) have become targets of strong criticism from the United States government. Washington authorities argue that the legislation constitutes a “non -tariff barrier” that disproportionately affect US companies.
Visiting the European Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition Commissioner, Teresa Ribera denied that the fines have some bias for commercial tensions with the Trump administration, which imposed 20% rates on EU exports. These rates were suspended as negotiations between the two parties advance.
The rules that support the measure do not admit “exceptions because they displease us, please us, come from one place or another,” Ribera told a press conference. “Interestingly, in the same weeks, very similar decisions were made in the United States in relation to these same companies,” added the commissioner, who said in an earlier statement that the sanctions are “firm but balanced.”
In this specific case, Apple is accused of limiting the operating capacity of alternative application developers, which cannot offer lower prices. Therefore, the Commission ordered the company to “eliminate technical and commercial restrictions” and to refrain from “perpetuating conduct” or adopting internal measures that have an equivalent effect.
In a statement, Apple said it will appeal against the fine, but will continue to “contact the commission, in support of our European users.” “Despite the numerous meetings, the commission continues to change the goals every step on the way,” the company lamented, which said it had invested “hundreds of thousands of engineering hours” to adapt to demands.
The goal was fined for the privacy model imposed on users, who should authorize the use of the information they provide or pay a rate, a system that the commission considered that “it is not suitable for DMA.” The company started to apply this model to its operation in the EU space after the DMA entry into force. “We have changed our business model twice to comply with DMA, and yet the European Commission requires us to make more changes … and actually forces us to offer our services for free,” said a goal spokesman. Therefore, he added that “he will possibly resort” to the application of the fine.
In addition, the company accused the EU of trying to “harm successful American companies, while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
*With information from AFP
Posted by Nátaly Tenório
