A recent post on social media platform X has ignited widespread discussion about Apple’s compliance with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The tweet, posted by video game designer and advocate Viktor Maric, featured the recently released warning screen that many found quite alarming. This welcome attention comes as Apple has come under increased scrutiny for their anticompetitive practices in Europe, including the use of external payment options by developers.
Mairc’s post went viral on Monday, racking up thousands of likes. It was widely reshared — especially among the mobile developer community — by hundreds of users. The warning screen even featured a link encouraging users to “Learn More.” Many have viewed this as an indication that Apple is already feeling the heat from increasing bipartisan pressure to do so, as well as by escalating EU sanctions.
Jacob Eiting, a developer and DMA commentator, suggested that the recent uptick in warnings is probably linked to developers’ lack of interest in the external purchases option permitted by the DMA. He thinks that this disconnect has led to greater discussion about the issue. He noted, “I think this is EU only and might have been around for a while, I just assumed nobody bothered with the DMA implementation for external purchases since they were pointless.” Eiting highlighted that fewer than 100 developers have taken advantage of this option, adding, “Fewer than 100 developers have availed themselves of this option for obvious reasons.”
The DMA was meant to open up markets to competition and put a stop to the anti-competitive behaviors of big tech companies. In August 2024, Apple released a flurry of announcements outlining significant new changes to its DMA proposal. These changes involved some pretty radical changes to the driver-facing disclosure user screen. Compliance is still a big problem. Then in April 2025, after the European Commission’s initiation of enforcement action, Apple was fined €500 million for continuing noncompliance under the DMA.
Sarah, who has been a Contributing Writer at TechCrunch since August of 2011, worked over three years at winning subdomain, ReadWriteWeb. Her experience in I.T. includes banking, retail and software industries. That insight gives her deep experience with the difficult and often conflicting dynamics at play in any discussion of technology regulation.
Apple’s long-standing defense has always been that transactions that the company’s tools facilitate through developer apps are the developers’ responsibility and not Apple’s. This clarification comes after a period of increasing scrutiny towards the company’s payment processing systems.
Conversations related to this topic are changing quickly. Going forward, developers and consumers alike will be watching to see how Apple navigates these regulatory waters in the European Union.
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