EU denies pausing action against Apple and others ahead of new US presidency

The European Union has denied a report that it has paused action against Apple and other US tech giants in the light of anticipated pressure from the incoming US president.

The report claims that the EU is “reassessing” antitrust investigations of Apple, Meta, and Google and that all decisions and fines will be paused until this process is complete …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is said to have called the president-elect on Friday to complain about antitrust and privacy violation fines levied against them.

The Financial Times cites unnamed EU sources for its report.

Brussels is reassessing its investigations of tech groups including Apple, Meta and Google, just as the US companies urge president-elect Donald Trump to intervene against what they characterise as overzealous EU enforcement […]

All decisions and potential fines will be paused while the review is completed, but technical work on the cases will continue, the officials said.

One of the sources is described as “a senior EU diplomat” who said that political pressure means a lot of uncertainty over how investigations will proceed.

Apple is one of the companies which has already faced EU action forcing it to permit third-party app stores, and it is now under pressure to permit other companies to have greater access to features currently limited to Apple products.

This includes the fast-pairing system reserved for AirPods, with other companies seeking access to this for their own headphones and other Bluetooth devices. Meta is seeking access for its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses.

However, the EU denied the report, stating that “there is no such review taking place” and instead there are simply routine meetings to assess the generate state of its ongoing investigations.

9to5Mac’s Take

The EU bowing to US political pressure seems exceedingly unlikely.

However, the idea of a review is perfectly plausible. Both Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton stepped down from the Commission in charge of proposing EU policy to parliament. Both were known hard-liners on competition law, so a change in regime could well prompt a reassessment of current investigations, and future plans.

The most likely reality is that a review began as soon as Vestager departed, but without any connection to the change in the US administration.

Photo: Apple