Apple is set to face the first official fine from the EU for breaching their Digital Markets Act (DMA) following several investigations into tech giants.

The DMA came into effect in March, with the EU Commission launching numerous investigations into some of the biggest tech companies in the world to ensure their compliance.

The Act introduced more stringent regulations and requirements for the most prolific tech companies, labelling them as ‘gatekeepers’.

These include Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.

The DMA aims to cut down on these company’s market dominance and power across their many tendrils, including social media, search, cloud, and systems operations.

Now, Apple’s App Store rules have come under fire. In early summer, the EU competition watchdog preliminary found the tech giant of being non-compliant with the DMA over its App Store practices.

It alleges that Apple is prohibiting developers from informing users of alterative purchasing options free of charge, a method that has been slammed as uncompetitive and an abuse of Apple’s market dominance.

The company’s App Store takes a hefty commission for purchases, at 30%, and does not offer interoperability with other application stores, raising other qualms with the EU.

Recommended

• Meta Introduces New Data Sharing Choices to Comply with DMA
• CMA Holds Google & Apple Cases Pending New Digital Powers
• European Commission Accuses Apple of Breaching Digital Markets Act

Despite the EU’s early findings, Apple continues to create new fees in order to maintain its steep cut from developers and evade the DMA’s restrictions. The firm did implement new rules in its attempt to come under compliance with the DMA, including new frameworks and APIs for creating alternative app stores.

According to Bloomberg, the EU’s decision is still being drafted and may be finalised later this month. But Bloomberg has reported that Apple is set to face a fine from the DMA, which could be up to 10% of its global annual turnover. Its total revenue for 2023 was £302.75 billion.