Greens want to take Apple and Meta with high punishments

EU is probably aiming for symbolic punishment

Greens are calling for high fines for tech giants from the USA

When it comes to the Green politician Andreas Audretch, Apple and Meta have to pay high punishments. The EU shouldn’t buckle before Donald Trump.

The Greens call for a decisive approach of the EU against Apple and Meta. The party’s parliamentary group, Andreas Audretsch, told the news magazine “Spiegel”: “The EU Commission has to enforce European rules without drawbacks against Donald Trump’s tech mogule.”

Both US companies are accused of violations of EU laws for digital markets. As Audetsch explains to the magazine, the companies would “cut off competitors, refuse access, claim monopoly positions instead of facing fair competition.”

Precisely because of the warnings of US President Donald Trump before measures against the tech giants, one must now prove determination. Audetsch thus alluded to a report by the “Financial Times”, according to which the EU would probably only want to prove both companies with low punishments. In theory, punishments of ten percent of the global sales are possible – in the case of Apple, that would be around 38 billion euros according to the figures from 2024.

Both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg donated one million dollars to take care of Donald Trump. Trump several times criticized the regulations of tech companies in the EU and therefore announced tariffs. Trump consultant Andrew Ferguson described the punishments as a tax of the EU.

The EU accuses Apple of pulling unfair advantages out of its market position. Different techniques of iPhones would have to be more compatible with devices from other manufacturers. Apple criticized the decision.