The European Commission is set to launch five non-compliance investigations into how Apple, Google and Meta comply with antitrust rules in the new Digital Markets Act. Regulator announced today. „We suspect that the solutions proposed by the three companies are not fully compliant with the DMA,“ EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “We will now investigate companies' compliance with the DMA to ensure an open and competitive digital market in Europe.”
In particular, the European Commission will investigate Google and Apple's anti-steering rules in their app stores and whether Google is guilty of prioritizing its own services within its search engine.apple Browser selection screen Similar to Meta's „'', it is also being investigated for iOS.Payment or consent model” for ad targeting. The commission said in a press conference that it plans to complete its investigation within the next 12 months.
EU regulators are also looking into the pricing structure Apple has announced for distributing apps outside the App Store, and whether Amazon is voluntarily prioritizing its own products in its stores. The commission also announced that it has given Meta an additional six months to make Messenger interoperable with other messaging services.
„We are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect our obligations to a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses,“ EU Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a statement. . “If our investigation concludes that there is no full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could be subject to significant fines.”
Following the investigation, the European Commission will tell each gatekeeper what it must do to address the concerns and what measures the regulator plans to take. If found to be non-compliant, the European Commission can impose fines on companies under the DMA of up to 10% of their global annual revenue, or up to 20% in cases of „repeat non-compliance“.
Earlier this month, six major technology companies were designated as gatekeepers under the DMA. I had to start following those rules.. These include the need to change default apps and provide customers with the option to uninstall Gatekeeper's pre-installed applications, and the prohibition on ranking Gatekeeper's first-party services higher than rivals. , third-party app store permissions, etc.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager previously instructed Reuters The committee said it would take a closer look at how Apple complies with this regulation, out of concern that the company may be making „virtually no appeal to exploit the benefits of DMA.“ Ta.
Meta's „pay or consent model“ has also been the subject of complaints from various countries. Various EU supervisory bodies. Last year, we launched new paid tiers for Facebook and Instagram within the EU. Users pay 9.99 euros per month To use each service ad-free, the subscription is designed to: How to obtain user consent If you decide not to pay, your data will be collected, but the committee is concerned about the „choice between options“ offered by Meta. last week, Mehta said he made an offer. To appease regulators, the monthly price for ad-free access will be reduced to 5.99 euros per month.