The European Commission (EC) has launched its first investigation into alleged breaches of the Digital Markets Act, the amendments to which came into force on March 6. Proceedings are being carried out against Alphabet, Apple and Meta*.
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The commission is examining the activities of companies for violations of the law regarding application markets. Under the provisions of the law, services operating in the EU must provide app authors the opportunity to redirect users to offers outside of stores. We are talking about Google Play and App Store.
The EC wants to check whether the display of search results on Google leads to users preferring the services of Alphabet (Google’s parent company). That is, if the company creates discriminatory conditions in the market.
The EC is also concerned about Apple’s ability to prevent users from easily choosing an alternative default service on their iPhone.
Regarding Meta*, the commission will review the company’s payment or acceptance model. The program involves inviting users to sign up for a paid subscription or accept targeted advertising.
New provisions in the European digital services law are designed to increase competition between technology companies. The law applies to 22 services from six largest corporations: Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta*, ByteDance (TikTok operator), and Microsoft.
For non-compliance with the law, fines are imposed in the amount of 10% of global annual income, in case of recidivism – 20%.
*Meta and its Facebook and Instagram members are recognized as extremist organizations whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
