The European Commission fined US tech giants Apple and Meta 700 million euros on Wednesday for breaching digital competition rules despite US President Donald Trump's criticism of such regulations.

The commission fined Apple 500 million euros ($570 million) after concluding that the company prevented app developers from steering customers outside its App Store to access alternative offers.

It also fined Meta 200 million euros over its "pay or consent" system after it violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram.

The White House said on Wednesday that the fines are a "novel form of economic extortion" that the United States will not tolerate.

The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which came into effect last year — forcing the world's biggest tech companies to open up to competition in the European Union.

The commission has imposed a cease-and-desist order to ensure effective compliance. Apple and Meta are required to comply with the commission's decisions within 60 days, or they risk periodic penalty payments.

Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president of the European Commission, said the decisions "send a strong and clear message".

The DMA is "a crucial instrument to unlock potential, choice and growth by ensuring digital players can operate in contestable and fair markets", she said on Wednesday. "It protects European consumers and levels the playing field."

Henna Virkkunen, another European Commission executive vice-president, said enabling free business and consumer choices is at the core of the rules laid down in the DMA.

"The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice for their users and are required to change their behavior."

The fines issued are considered at low levels since the EU's relatively new digital regulations suggest fines of up to 10 percent of annual global turnover for breaching the DMA.

Fighting back

The two companies have immediately fought back against the EU's decisions.

"Today's announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free," Apple spokeswoman Emma Wilson said.

"We will appeal and continue engaging with the commission in service of our European customers."

Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan accused the European Commission of "attempting to handicap successful American businesses".

"This isn't just about a fine. The commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multibillion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Politico earlier that the EU is determined to enforce its full digital rulebook no matter who is in charge of those companies or where they are based — a message that is deemed directed at Trump and his adviser, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who have sharply criticized the bloc's digital rules.

It has been reported that the Trump administration intends to pressure the EU to change its digital rules under continuing bilateral trade negotiations.

AFP contributed to this story.