by 2024 will be a year of change for the world’s biggest tech companies as they grapple with EU rules that come into effect next month, affecting how Europeans use popular platforms from Google to Instagram.
A long time ago the European Union set its sights on big technology, with the aim of stopping global dominant companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
The landmark law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) breaks new ground because, rather than acting after the fact, it seeks to prevent companies from becoming powerful enough to defeat their competitors.
“This is really a big, big intervention in markets that affect people’s lives every day,” said Fiona Scott Morton, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank.
Brussels in September named six so-called “gatherers” with tougher curbs: Google Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok parent ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.
It breaks down 22 platform “core services” into the big six, including Amazon Marketplace, Apple’s App Store, Facebook, Instagram and Google’s Chrome browser.
“The point of the law is to open up these platforms and make the interface widely accessible so that there can be competition,” Scott Morton told AFP.
Businesses have until March 7 to comply, with a flurry of changes announced since the start of the year – even as Apple, TikTok and Meta face challenges to aspects of the law.
“We will get some of the benefits of opening these markets quickly,” predicted Scott Morton.
– The wind of change –
One of the biggest changes announced so far has come from Apple, which said in January that it would allow alternative app stores on the iPhone for the first time.
The firm has moved defiantly to comply, also arguing legally that its app stores across all products including the iPhone should count as one.
EU Google users are seeing banners asking them if they want to keep their Google services, such as YouTube and Chrome, connected — and therefore allow data sharing.
Another big change will be selection screens: the EU wants companies to make it easier for users to choose their default search engine or browser, in an effort to challenge Google’s search dominance.
Google has promised to revamp its results page, with a group of links to price comparison websites and removing some features such as Google Flights.
Microsoft also announced steps to comply — including allowing Windows users in the European Economic Area (EEA) — to uninstall its Edge browser from their computers, and removing pop-ups asking new users to try the interface.
The EEA includes the bloc plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Amazon, Google and Meta advertising services must also adapt to the new rules, and Amazon detailed changes last month to its advertising service, including providing more information about pricing.
One of the main changes the EU is seeking is to allow users to decide how much of their data is shared between the different platforms of the major companies.
Meta said last month that users in the EU, EEA and Switzerland will be able to create a separate Facebook Messenger account if they don’t want to link it to their Facebook account.
Individuals will be able to access Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Gaming without using their primary account information.
At the same time, Meta is resisting the application of the law on Facebook Messenger and Marketplace services.
Similarly, Chinese-owned TikTok, the only non-US business on the EU list, says it does not meet various thresholds for the law to apply and is misnamed.
– Top Apple issues –
Of all the giants being targeted, the DMA has perhaps the most potential to change Apple’s closed ecosystem.
Apple has made no secret of its disdain for the DMA, which it says creates privacy and security risks.
Within the industry, Apple has been accused of acting in bad faith – including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg who suggested the changes made it easier to create other app stores on the iPhone.
“Apple clearly has no intention of complying with the DMA,” said Rick VanMeter, executive director of the more than 70-member Coalition for App Fairness, which has long called for Apple to open its market.
“Apple is introducing new fees for direct downloads and payments they do nothing to process, which violates the law,” he said.
Apple has said that its changes comply with the DMA.
One vocal critic is Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, who is part of the app coalition and called Apple’s announced changes a “new low” for the firm.
Echoing a rising chorus among Apple’s rivals, Spotify said it hoped the DMA would end “the unfair stifling of innovation that Apple disguises as security protections”.
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