Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The EU is set to impose minimal fines on Apple and Facebook owner Meta next week under its Digital Markets Act, as Brussels seeks to avoid escalating tensions with US President Donald Trump.
According to people familiar with the decisions, the iPhone-maker is expected to be fined and ordered to revise its App Store rules, following an investigation into whether they prevent app developers from sending consumers to offers outside its platform.
Regulators will also close another investigation into Apple, which was focused on the company’s design of its web browser choice screen without any further sanctions.
Meta will also be fined and be ordered to change its “pay or consent” model which forces users to either consent to data tracking or pay a subscription fee for an ad-free experience of its products.
Under the DMA, companies can face penalties of up to 10 per cent of their global turnover, which could result in billions of dollars for both companies.
But the European Commission is aiming for fines that fall far below that threshold, three officials said, as the bloc’s digital rule book is relatively new and the decisions could still be challenged in court.
The moves come as Brussels attempts to enforce the DMA, which was designed to curb tech giants’ dominance of the digital marketplace, while avoiding a direct clash with Washington.
The focus of the new commission, which took office in December, is also more on the compliance of Big Tech companies with the law than on potential high fines in the billions of Euros, officials said.
Brussels regulators are set to drop a case about whether Apple’s operating system discourages users from switching browsers or search engines, after Apple made a series of changes in an effort to comply with the bloc’s rules.
Levying any form of fines on American tech companies risks a backlash, however, as Trump has directly attacked EU penalties on American companies calling them a “form of taxation,” while comparing fines on tech companies with “overseas extortion.”
“This is a crucial test for the Commission,” a person from one of the affected companies said. “Further targeting US tech firms will heighten transatlantic tensions and provoke retaliatory actions and, ultimately, it’s Member States and European businesses that will bear the cost.”
The US president has warned of imposing tariffs on countries that levy digital services taxes against American companies.
According to a memo released last month, Trump said he would look into taxes and regulations or policies that “inhibit the growth” of American corporations operating abroad.
Meta has previously said that its changes “meet EU regulator demands and go beyond what’s required by EU law”.
The planned decisions, which the officials said could still change before they are made public, is set to be presented to representatives of the EU’s 27 member states on Friday. An announcement on the fines is set for next week, although that timing could also still change.
The commission declined to comment.