Apple and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, were fined nearly $800 million total Tuesday for breaking the European Union’s (EU) antitrust rules for digital markets. 

The European Commission fined Apple €500 million, or about $570 million, for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by blocking app developers from steering customers to alternatives outside the iPhone maker’s App Store. 

Meta faces a €200 million, or about $228 million, fine for failing to provide users with a version of its services that uses less personal data. The company’s consent-or-pay model fell short of the DMA’s requirements, the European Commission found. 

“Today’s decisions send a strong and clear message,” Teresa Ribera, the EU’s top antitrust official, said in a statement. “The Digital Markets Act is a crucial instrument to unlock potential, choice and growth by ensuring digital players can operate in contestable and fair markets.” 

“Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms,” she added. 

While Meta has since updated its model to allow for a free experience that uses less data to display advertisements, the European Commission said it was still evaluating this option and was fining the company for the period of non-compliance. 

Meta slammed the decision Thursday, arguing it is effectively a multibillion-dollar tariff on the social media giant. 

“The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards,” Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said in a statement. 

“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service,” he continued. 

Major tech firms, including Meta, have increasingly referred to the EU’s fines as a form of tariffs on U.S. companies, a line that has since been taken up by President Trump. 

Shortly after taking office, Trump told the crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the EU’s fines were a “form of taxation” on American tech firms, pointing to multibillion-dollar fines against Apple and Google. 

An EU court ruled in September that Apple owed €13 billion, or more than $14 billion, in back taxes to Ireland, while also upholding a €2.4 billion, or $2.7 billion, fine against Google for violating the bloc’s antitrust rules. 

Despite Trump’s criticisms of the EU, his own administration has continued to pursue an aggressive approach toward antitrust, particularly in regards to Big Tech.  

Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently pushing for a breakup of Google in court, after the tech giant was found to have an illegal monopoly over online search last year.  

His Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is simultaneously at trial against Meta, which it has accused of entrenching its alleged monopoly over personal social networking with its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. 

The case went forward despite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s reported efforts to lobby Trump for a settlement.