The European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, issued vast fines against two U.S. tech giants on Wednesday.

Apple has been told it must pay a $568 million fine, and Meta that it must pay a $227 million fine. The EU claims these penalties are about protecting consumer rights. That is a lie. These fines represent the extortion of successful American companies in order to serve less competitive European tech businesses and generate revenue for the EU. As the political and economic union explains, “This money is not earmarked for particular expenses, but Member States’ contributions to the EU budget for the following year are reduced accordingly.”