Welcome to the TechMeme right home for Tuesday, March 25th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough today.

Looks like the EU is bringing down the hammer on meta. Waymo's next city is Washington, D.C.,

Napster continues to live and it has a new owner. Maybe domestic chip production can be

cost-competitive after all, and what happens if

Europe decouples from Silicon Valley? Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

Sources are telling the New York Post that the European Commission is expected to find that

meta violated the DMA, and will thereby fine the company hundreds of millions of dollars,

possibly over $1 billion, quoting the New York Post. The EU's probe into the Facebook and

Instagram parent company is expected to finish up as early as this week, with an announcement

about the Commission's enforcement action to follow immediately after the insiders added. EU officials are also expected to hit META with a

cease and desist notice, essentially informing the company of what it must change to get into

compliance according to the sources. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Apple and META were

likely to face modest fines for DMA breaches.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Rivera previously said a decision on enforcement actions for both

companies was coming in March. Aside from Meta, companies deemed gatekeepers under the

DMA include Google Parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, booking.com, TikTok parent, bite dance,

and Microsoft.

E.E regulators and other proponents say the law prevents tech giants from crushing smaller

rivals through anti-competitive behavior. Officials focused on meta's rollout of a

subscription service in 2023 in which users could pay the equivalent of $14 per month for an

ad-free experience on the apps, or consent to meta using

their personal data for targeted ads. This binary choice forces users to consent to the combination

...