France, April 23 -- EU watchdogs fined Apple €500m after concluding it prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store. In a separate case it alsofined Facebook parent company Meta €200m for violating rules on the use of personal data.

The penalties threaten to increase tensions between the bloc and Donald Trump, as the two sides discuss a deal to avoid the US president's sweeping tariffs.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc's digital competition rules.

The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect last year, forcing the world's biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU.

They ...