Apple Asks EU to Repeal Bloc's Landmark Digital Markets Act — Update

By Edith Hancock

Apple asked the European Union's executive arm to repeal or significantly scale back the Digital Markets Act after saying the law is making it harder to do business in the bloc.

"The most effective way to repair the damage and prevent further harm would be a repeal of the law--or specific provisions--and a reset on digital competitiveness that puts users first," Apple said in remarks it submitted on Wednesday to the European Commission, whose officials are reviewing how the new law is working.

Apple said the law should be scrapped or stripped back, or enforcement should be handed to an independent agency "shielded from political interference," echoing criticism from U.S. President Trump that the Commission is using its suite of tech regulations to target U.S. businesses.

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said officials aren't surprised by Apple's rhetoric and that it undermines the company's narrative of wanting to be fully cooperative. The EU executive still has serious concerns about Apple's compliance with the rules, he said.

"There's absolutely no intention from the commission side to repeal the DMA," he said.

The DMA has created a wedge between the EU and the U.S. since Trump returned to the White House this year as his administration has piled pressure on Brussels to temper its enforcement of the law.

Trump has also criticized EU antitrust enforcers for doling out multi-billion euro fines to tech giants in recent years, likening the penalties to a tax on American companies. The EU's competition chief, Teresa Ribera, has routinely rebuffed those claims and insisted that officials will enforce the DMA regardless of where a company is headquartered.

The iPhone maker said the DMA--created to help businesses that depend on the world's largest tech companies' search engines and App Stores reach customers--exposes users to privacy risks and is making it harder to bring new products to Europe.

"The European Commission's use of the Digital Markets Act to redesign our products has had a real impact on our users," Apple said.

Under the DMA, a handful of companies including Apple are classed as "gatekeepers" thanks to their ownership of key routes to market in the digital economy. Apple is now obliged to let rival app stores set up shop on iPhones and show users a choice screen that allows them to choose a different default browser in the EU.

Companies can be fined up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover for flouting the rules, escalating to 20% for repeat offences. Breakup orders can even be issued in extreme cases.

The commission was quick to open investigations into Apple's product changes early last year when the company had to start abiding by the law. Since then, officials have fined Apple 500 million euros ($586.9 million) for failing to comply, and Apple has made further tweaks to its EU offerings.

"The [commission's] extreme interpretations of the law have created new vulnerabilities for our users and a degraded experience," Apple said. The company added that the law has led it to delay launches of new features in the EU, such as a live translation tool, iPhone mirroring with other devices and a maps feature drawing on user location data.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2025 07:37 ET (11:37 GMT)