It's an understatement to say the European Commission did the bare minimum. The announcement on Wednesday, April 23, of the first fines imposed under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), designed to prevent digital giants from imposing their rules, was made via press release without any political figure from the institution deeming it necessary to answer journalists' questions.

"We have concluded that Apple and Meta have breached the #DigitalMarketsAct," Henna Virkkunen, the commissioner for digital affairs, commented on X. The Finnish politician did not even specify the penalties: €500 million for the tech giant and €200 million for the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Competition commissioner, Teresa Ribera, in a statement, said the decisions send a "strong and clear message," describing the sanctions as "firm and balanced."

When the opening of investigations against Apple and Meta, which have now reached their conclusion, was announced at the end of March 2024, their predecessors, Thierry Breton (digital) and Margrethe Vestager (competition), had communicated extensively on the subject, praising Europe for taking action to protect its businesses from the unfair practices of major platforms. However, since then, Donald Trump has returned to the White House and launched a trade war with widespread tariff increases, which he temporarily paused two weeks ago.

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