The EU opens proceedings against Apple, Google and Facebook

SOCIETY:

Barely three weeks after the EU’s new comprehensive legislative package, three major cases are now being carried out for violations of the Digital Markets Act.

The European Commission now has the three technology companies Apple, Google and Meta in its sights.

The three American technology giants are now being investigated for whether their actions are in breach of legislation that is supposed to ensure healthy competition in the Union’s digital markets, writes the Reuters news agency.

“Unfair”

The basis for the investigation is that the commission considers that the three technology giants appear to be breaking the DMA laws in the following ways:

Apple gives the company’s own app store as well as its own browser Safari a disproportionate advantage.

Google’s gives its Play app store as well as its own search engine a disproportionate advantage.

Meta’s responsibility to avoid disproportionate data sharing on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

The EU’s legislative package aims to prevent so-called “gatekeepers” from using their market leadership to outcompete challengers in digital markets such as search engines, social networks and app platforms.

Fines as needed

If the companies are found to have breached the DMA laws, they can be fined up to 10 percent of their annual global turnover.

The EU’s head of the industrial commission, Thierry Breton, expects that the investigation into the three technology giants will be over by the end of the year, the inspectorate said at a press conference.