Apple, Google parent Alphabet, and Facebook parent Meta are the first companies targeted by the European Union under a sweeping new law designed to stop big tech firms from cornering the market online.
The regulatory arm of the EU, the European Commission, said Monday that it was investigating the companies for “non-compliance” with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which went into effect on March 7. The law requires six tech companies classified as “gatekeepers” — Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok owner ByteDance — to follow a series of new rules for operating online.
The new rules aim to make digital markets “fairer” and “more contestable,” as the Commission increasingly looks to rein in tech giants’ dominance and maintain competition. The law allows the commission to fine companies as much as 10% of a company’s total annual global revenue, and up to 20% for repeat offenders.
“We have been in discussions with gatekeepers for months to help them adapt, and we can already see changes happening on the market,” Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the internal market, said in a statement Monday. “But we are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses.”
Mountain View, California-based Google is facing probes over whether its search engine unfairly promotes its own search services — such as Google Shopping and Google Flights — over rival services. Both Google and Apple are being probed over whether their app stores allow app developers to “steer” customers to offers outside of their stores.
Cupertino, California-based Apple was fined almost $2 billion on March 4, just days before the DMA went into effect, over accusations it abused its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps, such as Spotify or Apple Music. The Commission said Apple had prevented developers from informing customers about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of its App Store.
Additionally, the Commission is looking into whether Apple allows iPhone users to “easily” uninstall software, change settings, and change default options for search engines or browsers. Proceedings in a major antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. against Google revealed that the tech giant pays Apple billions of dollars annually to keep its search engine the default option in Apple’s safari browser.
This is a developing story and will be updated.