It is an understatement to say that the European Commission has done the minimum service. The announcement, Wednesday, April 23, of the first fines imposed under Digital Markets Act (DMA), designed to prevent digital giants from imposing their rules, was made by press release without any political official of the institution having deemed useful to answer questions from journalists.
“We have concluded that Apple and Meta have broken the DMA”commented on X Henna Virkkunen, the commissioner in charge of digital. The Finnish politician did not even specify the amount of penalties: 500 million euros for the apple group and 200 million euros for the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. “Today's decisions send a strong and clear message”for his part, said the competition commissioner, Teresa Ribera, in a press release, qualifying the sanctions as “Farms and balanced”.
When the opening of surveys against Apple and Meta, which found their culmination here, had been announced at the end of March 2024, their predecessors, Thierry Breton (digital) and Margrethe Vestager (competition), had however largely communicated on the subject, praising a Europe to maneuver to protect its companies from unfair practices of large platforms. But, since then, Donald Trump has returned to the White House and launched a trade war with all -round customs rights increases, which he temporarily paused two weeks ago.
You have 76.2% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Source: Lemonde