Apple Was "Prohibition on Guiding to External Purchases," Meta Was "Forced Personal Information-Based Advertising"

April 23, 2025: European Commission imposed fines of 500 million euros (approximately 720 billion KRW) on Apple and 200 million euros (approximately 290 billion KRW) on Meta for violations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This is the first non-compliance ruling since DMA implementation -- both companies could face additional fines if they do not implement corrective measures within 60 days. Apple violation: EU determined Apple failed to comply with DMA "steering" obligation requiring App Store app developers to be allowed to guide and direct consumers to external purchase pathways; Apple was imposing both technical restrictions (preventing linking out to external payment) and commercial restrictions (threatening developers with App Store removal if they promoted better external prices) that together made the steering obligation practically unenforceable. Meta violation: EU found Meta "consent or pay" model (requiring users to either consent to personalized advertising or pay a subscription fee to opt out) does not constitute valid freely given consent under DMA; the binary choice between privacy and service access is deemed coercive because users who cannot afford the subscription have no genuine privacy choice. The precedent significance: these are the first DMA fines after two years of enforcement; they establish that the Commission will use financial penalties rather than just compliance orders; the 500 million and 200 million euro figures are below the 10% of global revenue maximum allowed -- suggesting the Commission calibrated penalties to change behavior rather than impose maximum punishment; if the 10% maximum were applied, Apple fine could exceed 40 billion USD.