by Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – American digital giants Apple, Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Google, owned by Alphabet, are the target of European Union investigations to determine whether they comply with new regulations on digital markets, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The European Commission is expected to announce in the coming days the opening of these investigations, the sources said, with the aim of communicating its decisions before the end of the mandate of Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager next November.
Bloomberg first reported that the EU executive would investigate the three groups.
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European legislation on digital markets (“Digital Markets Act”, DMA) provides for a fine of up to 10% of the global turnover of the group concerned in the event of an infringement.
Gradually applied since spring 2023, the DMA formally came into force in March. It requires digital giants to comply with measures intended to guarantee fair competition by offering more latitude to their users and their rivals.
The European Commission declined a request for comment. There was no immediate comment from Meta, Apple and Google.
Margrethe Vestager said this week in an interview with Reuters that paid subscriptions implemented by Apple and Meta in Europe could reduce DMA benefits for users of the two groups’ platforms.
She also pointed out strategies used by certain companies to discourage their users from turning to rival companies, by denigrating them – the European Commissioner considered these practices unwise.
(Foo Yun Chee; French version Zhifan Liu and Jean Terzian, edited by Sophie Louet)
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