LONDON (Reuters) -European Union regulatory authorities on Wednesday enforced penalties on Apple and Meta amounting to 700 million euros ($ 877 million) for breaching brand-new antitrust regulations, the initial permissions under site regulations targeted at suppressing Big Tech’s power.
Here is some response to the fines:
APPLE IN AN EMAILED DECLARATION:
“Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free.”
META IN AN EMAILED DECLARATION:
“The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.
“This isn’t practically a penalty; the Commission requiring us to transform our organization design, properly enforcing a multi-billion-dollar toll on Meta while needing us to use a substandard solution.”
” FORTNITE” MAKER EPIC GAMES CEO TIM SWEENEY:
“Great information for application programmers worldwide! (…) Today’s choice advantages all programmers – European programmers and American programmers alike. It highlights the requirement for America to in a similar way pass the Open App Markets Act to bring competitors back to electronic markets.
“Lobbyists and shills funded by American Big Tech had better not misportray Europe’s modest fine for Apple’s lawbreaking as a “European tax obligation on American business”. To do so would be to try to gaslight the administration into a trade war to protect Apple’s lawlessness.”
ANDREAS AUDRETSCH, REPLACEMENT PARLIAMENTARY LEADER OF ECO-FRIENDLY CELEBRATION IN GERMAN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT:
“The fines (…) are clearly too low. The Commission should have taken tougher action; in previous proceedings, the Commission had imposed significantly higher fines in the billions.
“There need to be no question that the Commission is prepared to tire all lawful ways to implement European legislation. This is especially crucial at once when Donald Trump and united state technology oligarchs are purposely attempting to threaten European legislation.
“There must be no subjugation of Europe. If Apple and Meta let the 60-day deadline pass without paying the fines, further steps must be taken.”
COMPUTER SYSTEM & & COMMUNICATIONS SECTOR ORGANIZATION (CCIA) EUROPE’S ELDERLY VICE HEAD OF STATE AND HEAD OF WORKPLACE DANIEL FRIEDLAENDER:
“The DMA’s (Digital Markets Act) credibility is being weakened by its unpredictable enforcement and shifting demands, combined with sweeping product-design mandates from the European Commission that disrupt the user experience and limit EU businesses’ ability to reach consumers.”
“(…) The DMA has become highly politicised, and could even force some companies to provide services at a loss. There is a huge opportunity for regulatory simplification in Europe – so far, however, the DMA decisions are going in the opposite direction.”
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF PERSONAL PRIVACY SPECIALISTS’ (IAPP) SUPERVISOR OF STUDY & & INSIGHTS JOE JONES:
“The fines land at a time of heightened scrutiny by the current U.S. Administration on the application of EU laws to U.S. companies.
“( …) Open concerns consist of not just exactly how will certainly resolved business reply to EU regulative enforcement yet exactly how will certainly overseas federal governments, consisting of and particularly the united state, react. The UNITED STATE Administration has actually proclaimed it will certainly think about receptive activities like tolls to deal with particular international federal government plans imposed versus united state business.
“The EU’s digital rulebook not only has grown in size but has grown more complex as well as robust in its application, with fines and corrective measures being imposed.
EUROPEAN CONSUMER GROUP BEUC DIRECTOR GENERAL AGUSTIN REYNA:
“Today’s choices are essential to reveal Big Tech that if they pick to operate the EU’s Single Market they need to play by our regulations.
“Apple and Meta have had ample time to comply with the (DMA) but instead have delayed compliance and tried to twist the rules to their advantage. Consumers deserve better choices, and businesses need fairer market conditions in digital markets, so the Commission must enforce the law.
“The (DMA) is a gamechanger in regards to opening electronic markets to even more competitors. The Commission need to implement the (legislation) properly to ensure that gatekeepers abide by all its arrangements and customers can profit of even more and far better selection in electronic solutions.”
RASMUS ANDRESEN, BUDGET AND FINANCIAL SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GREENS/EFA IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
“It is a long-overdue and crucial action that the EU Commission is lastly utilizing its regulative power to control the united state technology titans.
“(…) With this action, Europe is sending a clear signal: the digital internal market is not a lawless space for billion-dollar tech companies. It is about fairness, real competition, and the protection of consumer rights and small businesses.
“Trump’s ask for an end to EU technology policy are exceptionally unsafe. It is great that the EU Commission is reacting with the application of regulations. We pick our very own regulations.
“But competition rules alone are not enough. We also need consistent and fair taxation of tech companies. It is unacceptable that an entire industry makes massive profits while simultaneously avoiding its responsibilities to society. The EU Commission should finally present a proposal to fairly tax the large tech companies in Europe.”
GERMAN ECONOMIC CLIMATE MINISTRY AGENT:
“More competition in the European Union benefits not only consumers, but also all European, as well as non-European, SMEs and start-ups.”
($ 1 = 0.8773 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels, Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholmm and Holger Hansen and Miranda Murray in Berlin;Compiled by Josephine Mason; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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