An advertising watchdog said Tuesday that Apple went too far with marketing that touted the availability of Apple Intelligence features that weren’t released when the ads were broadcast.

The National Advertising Division, a non-profit focused on “truth in advertising,” said that following an inquiry from the organization about Siri improvements, Apple told it that it would permanently discontinue a TV ad called “More Personal Siri” that focused on a big AI improvement to Siri. 

That ad premiered in September and promoted the iPhone 16 with unreleased features. In March, Apple said it would delay the release of those features to “the coming year.”

“NAD recommended that Apple avoid conveying the message that features are available when they are not,” the group said.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment. The company told NAD it disagreed with the findings but would follow the group’s recommendations, the non-profit said. 

NAD’s decision is the latest blow to Apple’s reputation with artificial intelligence technology and its struggles to market the iPhone 16’s AI features.

Apple is also facing class-action lawsuits over those Apple Intelligence ads, and the company in January turned off its AI summary feature for news apps after users and the BBC discovered that the feature at times twisted headlines to display false information.

Besides pulling the ad, which featured “The Last of Us” actor Bella Ramsey, off of YouTube in March, Apple has made other changes to its marketing. 

Apple’s website no longer says Apple Intelligence is “available now” — the tagline now reads “AI for the rest of us.” Apple has also begun running a new ad focused on another Apple Intelligence feature called “Clean Up” that can edit objects or people out of photo’s backgrounds.

The company in June unveiled Apple Intelligence, its marketing term for its suite of AI features. Apple’s newest iPhones, the company said at the time, would be able to access image generators, custom emojis, intelligently-summarized notifications, and eventually, a vastly improved Siri.

When the iPhone 16 was released in September, Apple Intelligence was featured on television ads, billboards and the company’s website as a key reason to buy the iPhone 16. But the AI features rolled out in waves over the course of months as software updates, even while Apple touted the features.

Most Apple Intelligence features announced last June have launched and are turned on by default on new iPhones in the U.S.

Investors are looking for signs that Apple Intelligence could boost Apple stock by driving more iPhone upgrades than usual.

About 80% of U.S. users with supported iPhone have tried the features, and more than 50% of current iPhone owners who are looking to upgrade say it will be very important to have Apple Intelligence on their next device, according to results from a Morgan Stanley survey published Tuesday.

Over half of respondents said they would pay $10 or more per month for the feature, the note said, suggesting that consumers see value in the software.

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The European Union on Wednesday fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros each for breaching the bloc’s digital competition laws.

The European Commission, which is the executive body of the EU, said it was fining Apple 500 million euros ($571 million) and Meta 200 million euros ($228.4 million) for breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Officials said that Apple failed to comply with so-called “anti-steering” obligations under the DMA. Under the EU’s tech law, Apple is required to allow developers to freely inform customers of alternative offers outside its App Store.

The tech giant was ordered by the EU to remove technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating its non-compliant conduct in the future.

Apple said in a statement that it planned to appeal the EU fine while continuing its discussions with the Commission.

“Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free,” Apple said.

“We have spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way,” the company added.

For Meta, the EU Commission found that the social media group illegally required users to consent to sharing their data with the company or pay for an ad-free service. This was in response to Meta’s introduction of a paid subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram in November 2023.

Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said in a statement that the Commission was “attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”

“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service. And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising the European Commission is also hurting European businesses and economies,” Kaplan said.

The EU said its fine for Meta took into account steps that the tech giant took to comply with its rules through a new version of its free personalized ads service that uses less personal data to display advertisement.

“The Commission is currently assessing this new option and continues its dialogue with Meta, requesting the company to provide evidence of the impact that this new ads model has in practice,” regulators said.

Meta was sent a cease-and-desist order by the EU ordering it to make changes to its less personalized ads option over the coming 60 days or face further fines, according to a source familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous as the information is not public.

The antitrust decision risks potential retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made no secret of his displeasure with the EU’s regulatory enforcement actions on America’s digital giants.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed so-called “reciprocal” tariffs of 20% on EU goods entering the U.S. He later dropped the new tariff rates on dozens of trading partners — including the EU — to 10% for a limited time period for trade negotiations.

The reciprocal tariffs came after Trump earlier issued a directive threatening to impose tariffs on Europe to combat what he called “overseas extortion” of American tech companies through digital services taxes, fines, practices and policies.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says China’s new trade restrictions on rare earth magnets have affected the production of the company’s Optimus humanoid robots, which rely on the exports. 

Speaking on a Tesla earnings call on Tuesday, Musk said that the company was working through the issue with Beijing and hoped to get approval to access the critical resources.

China, earlier this month, imposed new export controls on seven rare earth elements and magnets used in everything from defense to energy to automotive technologies. The move was in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating tariffs.

According to Musk, Beijing has asked Tesla to guarantee that the rare earth magnets under expert control will not be used for military purposes.

“China wants some assurances that these aren’t used for military purposes, which obviously they’re not. They’re just going into a humanoid robot,” he said.

The new restrictions, which have raised the risk of global shortages, require exporters of medium and heavy rare earths in question to receive licenses from China’s Ministry of Commerce.

China dominates the market for many of these rare earths, with the U.S. unprepared to fill a potential shortfall, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has into potential new tariffs on all U.S. imports of critical minerals in response to China’s export controls. 

Previously, Musk had announced plans for Optimus to produce about 5,000 units this year as the technology grows as part of Tesla’s future business plans. Moreover, he said that Tesla would deploy the robots in its EV factories. 

It’s unclear to what extent export controls might alter these plans. However, Musk reassured investors on Tuesday that the company still plans to produce thousands of robots this year, with thousands also expected to be deployed at Tesla factories.

The emerging technology could help Tesla drive some investor optimism as its EV business struggles, with its stock down about 37% year-to-date.

Steve Westly, founder and managing partner of The Westly Group and former Tesla Board member, told CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell Overtime‘ on Tuesday that the company needs to find a new growth engine soon. 

The company is expected to face stiff competition from other humanoid robot players in China, such as Unitree Robotics and AgiBot, both of which reportedly plan to enter mass production this year. The export controls could give the Chinese players another advantage over their U.S. competitors, according to some analysts.

While Musk is upbeat about Tesla’s prospects in the space, going so far as to claim that it is ahead of the competition, he is concerned that the leaderboard will be filled with Chinese companies.