The European Commission said Facebook parent Meta Platforms had agreed to make only limited changes to its pay-or-consent model and that it was still reviewing whether the concessions complied with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act rules.

It said possible penalties if the concessions were not found to comply with the DMA could include large fines.

In April the Commission levied a 200 million euro (£171m) fine on Meta and a 500m fine on Apple for non-compliance with the DMA and gave both companies 60 days to come into line with rules, a deadline that expired last Thursday.

Limited changes

The Commission said new financial penalties would not be applied automatically following the deadline, but only after the Commission conducts a preliminary analysis and provides its findings to the two companies as part of an ongoing dialogue.

But it said that if the companies were not found to be in compliance, they could face large daily fines that would be applied retroactively beginning on 27 June.

The Commission said it “could not confirm” whether Meta’s changes were sufficient to comply with the main parameters of compliance outlined in its April non-compliance decision.

“With this in mind, we will consider the next steps, including recalling that continuous non-compliance could entail the application of periodic penalty payments running as of 27 June 2025, as indicated in the non-compliance decision,” the Commission said.

The fine imposed on Meta relates to a model rolled out last November that gave users a choice of agreeing to be tracked for personalised advertising or paying for an ad-free service.

The Commission said this limited users’ choice in a way that didn’t comply with the DMA, after which Meta offered an alternative model that used less personal data.

User choice

Meta accused the Commission of unfairly targeting it and said its products go “well beyond” what the EU’s rules require.

The Commission said laws were enforced “fairly and without discrimination”.

The fine on Apple relates to the iPhone maker prohibiting developers from directing users to offers or content outside its platform.

The Commission has directed Apple to fulfil specific technical requirements to come into compliance with the DMA, which Apple has appealed.

The fines are relatively low compared to the billions in penalties levied under former competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, which the Commission said was due to the short duration of the violations since the DMA came into force in 2023 and a current focus on achieving compliance rather than punishing breaches.

The DMA was brought in to decrease the market power of large tech companies and oblige them to open up their ecosystems.