On April 23, 2025, the European Commission fined Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for separate breaches of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The combined penalty was €700 million—roughly $800 million at the time, not an exact dollar-denominated fine.
The Apple decision concerned App Store rules that restricted developers from steering customers to outside offers. Meta’s fine concerned the way Facebook and Instagram offered EU users a choice between personalized advertising and a paid, ad-free subscription. The Commission also ordered compliance; paying the fines alone did not resolve the underlying issues.
What the Commission decided
The European Commission announced the two non-compliance decisions on April 23, 2025, after discussions with both companies. These were enforcement decisions under the DMA, a distinct EU regulatory framework—not a general antitrust judgment about every part of Apple’s or Meta’s businesses. The Commission’s announcement and press release set out the fines and required responses.
| Company or service | Issue | Commission action |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Restrictions on App Store developers’ communications about offers and purchases outside the App Store | €500 million fine; remove the technical and commercial restrictions found unlawful |
| Meta | Facebook and Instagram’s “consent or pay” model | €200 million fine; bring the model into compliance with the DMA |
| Facebook Marketplace | DMA gatekeeper-service designation | No fine on this issue; the Commission removed Marketplace’s designation |
The total of the two fines is €700 million. Reports rounded that to about $800 million using the exchange rate at the time; the euro amount is the precise figure.
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Why Apple was fined
The anti-steering rule
The Apple case was about “anti-steering”: whether developers can tell people using an app how to find and buy offers outside the platform’s own store. The DMA requires covered gatekeepers to let developers communicate and direct customers to such offers, and to let customers make purchases outside the App Store.
The Commission found that Apple’s technical and commercial terms stopped developers from fully informing users about alternative, potentially cheaper offers. It said Apple had not shown that those restrictions were objectively necessary and proportionate. The decision was focused on steering—not a finding that every App Store rule was unlawful or that Apple must abandon its commission system. The Commission ordered Apple to remove the restrictions and not continue equivalent conduct.
What developers and customers could notice
If developers can communicate external offers more freely, customers in the EU may encounter links or other directions to purchase outside an app. That could give customers access to alternatives and give developers more control over how they present offers. It does not guarantee lower prices: developers set their own prices and may make different choices about where to sell.
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The finding also does not establish that all Apple users worldwide will see the same options. The DMA applies to covered services in the EU.
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Why Meta was fined
What “consent or pay” meant
Meta’s model for Facebook and Instagram users in the EU offered a choice between allowing Meta to combine personal data for personalized advertising or paying a recurring subscription for an ad-free service. The Commission found that this model did not provide the required specific choice of an equivalent service using less personal data, and did not allow users to freely consent to the combination of their data.
The finding was not simply that personalized advertising is forbidden. The issue was whether this particular choice met the DMA’s requirements for consent and a less-data-intensive alternative. The Commission did not prescribe one exact product design in the announcement, so it would be inaccurate to say it banned every subscription or “consent or pay” model.
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Potential effect for users
Meta may need to change how it presents choices about advertising and data use to EU users. Whether that means a new option, different terms, or another design depends on how Meta complies with the decision; the announcement did not guarantee a specific outcome or that a lower-data option would be free.
Why Marketplace was treated differently
The same Commission announcement included a decision favorable to Meta on Facebook Marketplace. The Commission found that Marketplace had fewer than 10,000 business users in 2024, below the relevant threshold that creates a presumption that a service is an important gateway for business users to reach consumers. After Meta asked for reconsideration and the Commission examined additional measures relating to business-to-consumer use, Marketplace was no longer designated under the DMA. That designation decision was separate from Meta’s €200 million fine.
What the Digital Markets Act does
The DMA sets obligations for designated “gatekeepers”: very large digital platforms that meet specified criteria relating to size, users, and their position in digital markets. Its aim is to make those markets fairer and more contestable. In these cases, the relevant duties concerned developers’ ability to steer customers to external offers and users’ choices about combining personal data across services.
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The law is not a blanket ban on app-store charges, subscriptions, personalized advertising, or platform rules. Whether a practice complies depends on the specific obligation and how the gatekeeper applies it. The Commission can require corrective action as well as impose a fine.
Separate Apple matters announced the same day
The €500 million penalty should not be conflated with two other Apple developments. The Commission closed a separate investigation into Apple’s user-choice obligations after changes involving browser choice and default settings. It also issued preliminary findings about Apple’s contractual terms for alternative app stores and web distribution. Those preliminary findings were not the final anti-steering decision that produced the fine. The Commission described the separate matters in its account of the user-choice investigation and alternative-distribution rules.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the companies responded
Meta criticized the Commission’s decision, arguing that it disadvantaged successful American companies and effectively forced a change to its business model. Meta also said the compliance burden would be economically significant and that the resulting service would be inferior. Those are Meta’s claims, not findings established by the Commission. Meta’s public response sets out its position.
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Apple has argued more broadly that DMA-driven changes can weaken privacy, security, and user experience in the EU. Its later statement addressed the law’s broader effects on EU users, rather than serving as a complete response to the specific April 2025 fine. Apple’s statement should therefore be read as the company’s broader view of the DMA, not as a substitute for the Commission’s findings.
Compliance, appeals, and what happens next
The Commission required both companies to comply within 60 days. The Apple decision included an order to remove the restrictions, while Meta was required to bring its model into compliance. The Commission can pursue further enforcement if a company fails to comply; the fine itself was not a substitute for the required changes.
As reported by the Commission in its 2026 DMA report, Apple had appealed the non-compliance decision. That means the decision should not be described as beyond legal challenge. The cited report establishes Apple’s appeal status; it does not establish Meta’s appeal status. The Commission’s wider oversight of gatekeepers also continues beyond these two decisions.
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