The European Commission said the Silicon Valley companies violated the Digital Markets Act, a law meant to crimp the power of the largest tech firms.

European Union watchdogs fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros as they stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition rules.

The European Union has ordered Apple and Meta to pay a combined €700m (£599m) in the first fines it has issued under legislation intended to curb the power of big tech. It has issued a €500m (£428m) fine to Apple over its App Store, while Meta has been fined €200m (£171m) over how much choice users had to consent to data collection.