Brussels sets the stage for the big tech giants. Two weeks after the full entry into force of the Digital Markets law, the European Commission yesterday launched different investigations into Apple, Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) for alleged breaches of the obligations that the new Community legal framework it imposes on the operators who, due to their size, are considered guardians of access.
The alleged violations have to do with the way in which these companies request the consent of users for different decisions, the rules of the app stores or the treatment of their own products compared to those offered by rival companies. “I don’t think we’re rushing, I think it’s coming at the right time,” said the vice-president of the Community Executive and holder of the Competence portfolio, Margrethe Vestager. “These are serious and emblematic cases about the ability to choose that the law offers to consumers”, he remarked. “The law has not taken anyone by surprise”, added the Internal Market commissioner, Thierry Breton.
Passed in 2022, with the new Digital Markets law, known as DMA in the sector by the acronym in English, the EU has provided itself with a potentially more effective instrument than the application of traditional competition rules to address possible cases of abuse of a dominant position in the technology sector and ensure a fair playing field for all companies. The new regulation foresees fines of up to 20% of the global business volume of companies in case of serious and repeated breaches, compared to the current 10%, through shorter investigations.
In the case of Alphabet, Brussels suspects that the company is using its near-monopoly in the search industry with Google to favor its price-comparison services to the detriment of those offered by rival companies, a move that already suits it worth a fine of 2.4 billion euros in 2017 and which, according to the Community competition services, has not been satisfactorily remedied.
In addition, the Commission considers disproportionate Alphabet and Apple’s restrictions on developers in their app stores (Google Play and App Store), which “limit” their ability to communicate directly with users and propose subscription offers, a practice that has just cost the iPhone manufacturer a fine of 1.8 billion.
The community technicians are also not satisfied with the formula that Apple has chosen to comply with the new obligation to offer users to decide which apps appear by default in the iOS system.
In the case of Meta, the investigation refers to the alleged breach of the rule that obliges them to ask for the consent of users to be able to use their personal data in order to select the advertising they see on Facebook and Instagram. As an alternative to the full use of your data, Meta offers the payment of a subscription of 13 euros, a “binary” option that does not burden the Commission. In addition, Brussels has reported that it is investigating whether Amazon favors its products over those of rivals.
The sector’s employer, the CCIA, has warned that opening these files when seminars are still being held on how to comply with the DMA “has the effect that the Commission is rushing and, regardless of the outcome, this initiative it could confirm the industry’s fears that the process may end up being politicized.”
