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The European Commission has decided to open up investigations targeting Google, Apple, and Meta. Well, even Amazon is targetted, to a degree. The EU regulator announced that today, as it opened up five non-compliance investigations.
The European Commission opened up investigations targetting Google, Apple & Meta
The whole purpose of these investigations is to find out how Google, Apple, and Meta are complying with its new Digital Markets Act antitrust rules. The EU antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager said: “We suspect that the suggested solutions put forward by the three companies do not fully comply with the DMA”.
To be more accurate, the European Commission is planning to investigate Google and Apple’s anti-steering rules in their respective app stores. Also, it plans to find out whether Google is guilty of self-preferencing it own services in its search engine. On top of all that, Apple’s browser choice screen for iOS is also being investigated, notes The Verge.
What about Meta? Well, its “pay or consent model” for ad targeting is another point of interest for the European Commission. The regulator said that it plans to conclude these investigations within the next 12 months.
Those are the main points of the investigations, but there are more secondary targets. The Commission plans to look into the fee structure Apple announced for distributing apps outside of the App Store.
Amazon’s practices will also be looked over by the EU
Amazon is not exempt either. It will find out whether Amazon is preferencing its own products in its store. When it comes to Meta, the Commission gave it an additional six months to make Messenger interoperable with other messaging services.
The EU Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said “We are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses”. He also added: “Should our investigation conclude that there is lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could face heavy fines”.
If found guilty, heavy fines are coming, along with steps on how to improve current practices. The European Commission can fine each of the companies up to 10% of their annual global revenue under the DMA. If repeated offenses are in question, those fines go up to 20% of annual global revenue.