The European Commission has fined Apple for 500 million euros and a destination for 200 million euros. In both cases, it is sanctions that have arrived after the application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European regulation on digital markets. The responses of the big tech to this fine already give a clue on how commercial wars will move in the future.
The latest fines decided by the European Commission for Big Tech they are consistent. Apple was sanctioned for 500 million euros. Destination, the company that deals with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for 200 million euros. It is not, or at least not yet, an answer to the complex war of duties triggered by Donald Trump in early April but the last chapter of a plan started a long time ago.
The Digital Markets Actabbreviated dma, is a European regulation that entered into force a November 2022. Technically it can be applied from May 2023. It is a document that deals with several passages but to remain generic we can say that it aims to define rules for digital markets that favor the competition and do not leave the Complete monopoly to the big tech. Here we leave you the official portal of the DMA.
Specifically, the DMA introduces two lists for the large platforms: one blacklist of prohibited practices and one Whitelist of mandatory practices. He writes digital agenda: “Among the most relevant measures there are the ban on privileging their services at the expense of third parties, the obligation to guarantee the interoperability of the more severe platforms and restrictions on the use of users’ personal data”.
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Meta and Apple are accused of having violated these rules. Specifically, he writes Corriere della Sera, Apple would be accused of violating theobligation to encourage communication between its users and developers who deal with the apps distributed by his store. Meta, on the other hand, would not have offered its users of alternative services where less personal data are used. In any case, nothing to do with the duties.
The response of the big tech
To understand which side will the coming commercial wars It is interesting to read the declaration issued by Joel KaplanManager of Meta: “The EU Commission is trying to penalize successful American companies, while it allows Chinese and European companies to operate according to different standards. It is not just a fine”. And again: “The fact that the Commission forces us to change our business model is in fact equivalent to imposing a tariff of billions of dollars in the destination”.
