TECH GIANTS MUST COMPLY WITH EU RULES REGARDLESS OF WHO RUNS THEM: VON DER LEYEN

MOSCOW, April 21 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- Large tech companies, including X, Meta, Apple and TikTok, must comply with EU rules in the field of digital technologies regardless of who runs these companies and where they are based, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported, quoting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"The rules voted by our co-legislators must be enforced," the commission's chief said in an interview with Politico. "That's why we've opened cases against TikTok, X, Apple, Meta just to name a few. We apply the rules fairly, proportionally, and without bias. We don't care where a company's from and who's running it. We care about protecting people."

The Wall Street Journal reported on April 18 that the cases against Meta and Apple were related to alleged violations of EU Digital Markets Act, which aims to ensure a more level playing field for competition between large and small digital companies. The investigations were launched in March 2024, with preliminary findings published in the summer of that year.

According to the newspaper, the companies could potentially face fines of up to 10 per cent of their global annual turnover, but the actual amounts could be lower.

The greatest impact is expected not from fines, but from orders that would force the companies to change their business practices, the newspaper noted.

-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI