Commission DMA non-compliance: Apple €500m anti-steering; Meta €200m Consent-or-Pay
On 23 April 2025 the European Commission fined Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for DMA breaches on App Store steering and Consent-or-Pay ads; EUR-Lex summarises the Meta Art.5(2) decision.
On 23 April 2025, the European Commission published that it had found Apple in breach of its DMA anti-steering obligation and Meta in breach of the DMA duty to offer users a less-personalised but equivalent alternative, and fined them €500 million and €200 million respectively (Commission press page).
Apple — App Store steering
Under the DMA, developers distributing via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers free of charge about alternative offers outside the store, steer them to those offers and allow purchases. The Commission found Apple’s restrictions prevented developers and consumers from fully benefiting from alternative channels and cheaper offers.
Meta — Consent or Pay (Case DMA.100055)
The OJ C summary of Decision C(2025) 2091 (published 27 June 2025) records that Meta’s binary Consent-or-Pay model for Facebook and Instagram in the EU — free with fully personalised ads versus a paid ad-free subscription — did not present the required specific choice of a less-personalised but equivalent alternative and did not enable freely given consent to data combination for personalised advertising under Article 5(2) DMA. The Decision imposes a €200 million fine and a cease-and-desist order (bring the non-compliance to an end within 60 calendar days of notification). Scope of that Decision is Meta’s original Consent-or-Pay model for March–November 2024, without prejudice to later assessment of Meta’s Additional Ads option rolled out from 12 November 2024.
The same Commission press page notes Facebook Marketplace was de-designated as a DMA core platform service after falling below 10,000 business users in 2024.
UA reading
EU IAP messaging and store-to-web steering remain under active DMA enforcement against Apple. Meta’s EU ad personalisation path was already under cease-and-desist pressure from this Decision; later less-personalised-ads undertakings are a separate geo-watch card. Do not invent ROAS deltas from the fine amounts alone.
| Field | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2025-04-23 |
| Apple fine | €500 million |
| Meta fine (Art.5(2)) | €200 million |
| Meta case | DMA.100055 |
| Meta cease-and-desist | Within 60 calendar days of notification |
| Marketplace designation | Removed (press page) |
