It had to happen. Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, has just slammed Apple and Facebook, which she accuses of circumventing the spirit of DMA.
March 7 was to mark the beginning of a new era for the European Internet, that of the forced opening of large platforms to competition. Armed with the Digital Markets Act, Brussels wanted to force GAFAM to leave a little more room for other web players. But everything did not go as planned at Apple and Facebook and it seems that the European Union is preparing to seriously punch the noses of these two “gatekeepers”.
Wobbly compliance
In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Margrethe Vestager explained that she had looked closely at the changes that Apple has made on iOS regarding the installation of applications outside the App Store and considers that “the current pricing structure absolutely does not make the opening to competition proposed by the DMA attractive.» As a reminder, Apple allows developers to do without the App Store to market iOS applications on the condition of paying a “Core Technology Fee” of 50 cents per installation. A tax widely criticized by most development teams.
Concerning Facebook, which has just offered a cheaper ad-free subscription in Europe, the manager pointed out a certain lack of ambition on the part of the platform. “Ie believes there are many ways to monetize the services you provide. One of them is highly targeted advertising that relies on personal data. Another way to show your ad is to make it contextual» explains the executive vice-president. In essence, we can sense a general criticism of Facebook’s economic model, which is too linked to the exploitation of personal data.
Regarding Facebook’s efforts, Margrethe Vestager bluntly announced that she wanted to work with the company to make Facebook and Instagram “compliant with the DMA», implying therefore that they are not currently. At Apple, the threat is also thinly veiled since it has announced that it will watch “from close» the current situation and that this kind of shaky compliance “swill be the sort of thing the EU will launch investigations into“.
A sword of Damocles
There is also no question of letting the little music take hold that DMA would be dangerous for the security of Internet users. “The DMA is there to facilitate access to other service providers. It is up to them to ensure that this is done without risks“. In the event of speeches that are a little too alarmist intended to chill Internet users who would like to change creameries, the European Commissioner ensures that she is fully prepared to use the power of investigation and sanction offered by the DMA.
Just to keep everyone well behaved, the elected official also affirmed that she had received “a good amount» messages concerning potential abuse of dominant positions by GAFAM. Enough to install a symbolic sword of Damocles above the heads of all the major platforms.
Source : Reuters
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