Europe could force Apple, Google and Meta to make new changes

Since March 7, the European Union has imposed strict rules on tech giants. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulates several practices, with the aim of limiting abuse of dominant position by large American companies. Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon must respect it in particular. Among the key changes in the regulations, Apple must now allow the installation of applications outside the App Store (but does so with its own conditions, of course).

The application of the DMA is subject to the goodwill of the brands, who must themselves interpret the European regulation and adapt their products. The European Commission then reserves the right to investigate and then convict in the event of an infringement. On March 25, less than twenty days after the start of the regulation, Europe announced that it was opening investigations into Alphabet (Google), Apple and Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp).

The suspicions of the European Union

“The Commission suspects that the measures put in place by these gatekeepers do not allow them to effectively comply with their obligations under the Public Procurement Act. » can we read in the press release published by the European Commission.

EU investigations cover the following topics:

• Apple must allow developers to promote offers outside of their apps, without paying commission. The European Commission is concerned about the measures put in place by Apple, which would prevent developers from bypassing the App Store (Apple displays a strong warning message and forces applications to change their economic model to have this possibility, at the risk of pay).
• Google must also allow developers to promote offers outside of their applications, without paying commission. The company has also set up its own commissions.
• Google does not have the right to highlight its own services (Flights, Hotels, Shopping) during a Google search. The European Commission suspects Google of continuing to favor its own services.
• Apple must encourage its users to choose default applications different from its own, such as Safari. The EU questions whether the design chosen by Apple really helps users make the right choice.
• Meta must offer its users a way to not be tracked. The company has chosen a paid subscription, which could be too binary according to the European Commission. She questions the choice left to users.

In addition to these investigations, the European Commission also says it is starting to investigate two other changes to the DMA:

• Amazon does not have the right to favor its own brands, but the European Commission is concerned that it continues to do so.
• Apple needs to allow apps to be installed outside of the App Store, but its third-party store system with a 50-cent fee could undermine the purpose of the DMA.

Finally, the European Commission provides news on the interoperability between Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. She indicates having received a request for a 6-month postponement from Meta, which she considers “reasonable”. Meta can therefore finalize its universal system.

Investigations that will last several months

These openings of investigation are certainly not a surprise for the tech giants, who have known from the start that their applications of the DMA could be called into question. The European Commission will reach a conclusion within 12 months, whether or not to impose new giants on Google, Apple and Meta. In the event of an infringement, the European Commission can demand a fine of up to 10% of a company’s global turnover, or several tens of billions of euros.

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