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Meta readies for another EU fine, plus Oracle’s role in TikTok’s future 3/28/25

TechCheck

CNBC

Disruptors, Investing, Faang, Technology, Business, Management, Cnbc, Tech

4.856 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The European Union is set to fine Meta up to $1 billion for violating the Digital Markets Act, expected to come down before next week. The fines come despite Meta's changes of offering consumers the option of paying for an ad-free subscription or less personalized ads. Plus, Oracle is largely seen as the frontrunner to win the bid for TikTok, since Bytedance already relies heavily on Oracle's Texas servers to store customer data. We look at what's at stake and what an actual deal would look like.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Meta among the tech stocks moving lower this morning down almost 3% and on pace for its sixth straight weekly loss as it faces a potential fine out of the European Union.

0:08.4

Julia Borson has more in today's tech check. Hi, Julia.

0:12.9

Hey, that's right. sources tell us the European Commission will find meta for violating the Digital Markets Act as much as $1 billion in that fine is expected by the end of next week.

0:22.8

The EU's Digital Markets Act, or DMA, imposes rules on what the EU calls gatekeepers, which includes META,

0:29.1

in order to achieve their aim of fostering a competitive environment.

0:33.2

Now, Meta says it believed it was complying with the act by offering consumers the option of paying

0:38.1

for a subscription with no ads or opting for less personalized ads, so they didn't expect this fine.

0:44.0

Now, META can appeal the ruling and it can also request a stay of the enforcement.

0:48.5

But that's the wild card, what the commission might mandate that META changed to comply going

0:54.1

forward. And this isn't the first

0:55.7

time meta has been found the guilty of violating European Commission antitrust laws back in November.

1:01.8

It was fined over $800 million for, quote, abusive practices involving the marketplace business.

1:08.6

Analyst Michael Nathanson notes that fines are somewhat expected and that

1:12.0

investors do tend to look past them. But the question is how much meta might have to adapt

1:17.1

its business model in the region based on what the EU says. Now, the other wildcard here is how this

1:23.2

might all play into the Trump administration's tariff conversations after the EU just last week

1:28.8

hit Google and Apple with antitrust actions. Now, just this morning, various reports say that the

1:34.9

EU will impose, quote, minimal fines as it seeks to avoid further escalation with the Trump

1:40.0

administration. It is worth noting, though, that the EU could find META up to $16 billion for

1:45.9

DMA violations. Then there's also the question of the Trump administration's relationship with the

1:51.2

tech titans, including meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That relationship is warmed since he and others

1:57.2

sat in the front row at Trump's inauguration. But despite that improvement, the FTC led by Trump appointed Andrew Ferguson,

...

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