European Commission investigates Apple, Meta and Alphabet for violating DMA rules

[tasnimsanika00]

Since the Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force on the old continent on March 7 , the European Commission has armed itself with new weapons to counter the immense power of “Big Tech”. And it seems that these “Big Tech” companies are not complying adequately with this new legislative framework.

For this reason, the European Commission has decided to launch investigations against Apple, Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Meta . The aim of the investigations launched by Brussels is to determine whether or not the three companies have breached the precepts set out in the DMA.

The European Commission is concerned, for example, that Meta is not satisfactorily fulfilling its obligation to obtain explicit user consent for the amalgamation of personal data across different platforms .


Under the DMA's provisions, large digital platforms must authorise developers to redirect users to app stores other than those that currently dominate the mobile app market: App Store (Apple) and Play Store (Google). And Brussels fears that both Apple and Google are not properly complying with what the DMA says in this regard. In fact, it suspects that both companies could be putting obstacles in the way of app developers, forcing them to pay different commissions.

The European Commission also wants to check whether users of Apple devices can easily bosnia and herzegovina whatsapp lead change the applications installed by default on Apple products and use different browsers and search engines, for example.

Brussels plans to close its investigation within a year
With the DMA, Brussels wants to promote greater competition in the digital services market and encourage better opportunities for new entrants in this sector.

The DMA is anchored in the assumption that the big digital platforms have become so powerful that they actually dictate the rules of the game in the market in which they operate. And the aim is to overthrow the rules that once governed the so-called "gatekeepers", a term that the European Commission assigns to services from digital giants from across the pond such as Apple , Amazon , Microsoft , Alphabet and Meta .

Brussels plans to conclude its investigations against Apple, Meta and Alphabet within a year. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the companies directly concerned will have to take measures to allay the Commission's concerns. Companies that do not comply with the DMA could be fined up to 10% of their global annual turnover. Those who repeatedly violate the law could be fined up to 20% of their turnover.