The European Commission has announced the start formal investigations against Amazon, Apple, Meta and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) for possible violation of the new Digital Markets Law (DMA), which imposes strict rules on tech giants to prevent competitive abuses and monopolistic practices; a new framework that the European Union has been applying to large technology companies for just two weeks. He Subject of the investigation are Alphabet’s rules for using Google Play and automatic settings in Google Search, and Apple’s rules for App Store direction and the selection screen for Safari’s “payment or consent model” and Goal.
The Commission has also opened investigative actions related to Apple’s new alternative app store fee structure and Amazon’s ranking practices on its marketplace, and ordered gatekeepers to retain certain documents to monitor the effective application and fulfillment of their obligations.
He announced that Margrethe Vestager, Vice President of the Community, responsible for competitionduring a press conference accompanied by Tierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal TradeWarning that the announced cases «does not mean that the Commission supports the other practices of other platforms whose investigations are ongoing or have not yet been initiated«. The Commission suspects that the measures taken by these gatekeepers do not effectively fulfill their obligations under the Water Framework Directive.
Alphabet and Apple Management Rules
Brussels has initiated proceedings to examine whether actions by Alphabet and Apple related to their app store obligations violate the WFD. Article 5 (paragraph 4) of the Advertising Law requires gatekeepers to allow app developers to “direct” consumers to offers outside of the gatekeepers’ app stores, free of charge.
The Commission fears that Alphabet and Apple’s actions are not fully compliant, as they impose various restrictions and limitations. They claim, among other things, that this limits the ability of organizers to communicate freely and advertise offers and conclude contracts directly, including by charging various fees.
Alphabetical measures to avoid self-preferential treatment
For its part, the Community Executive has initiated proceedings against Alphabet to determine whether Alphabet’s display of Google search results results in self-preference in relation to Google’s vertical search services (e.g. Google Shopping, Google Flights, Google Hotels) over similar ones could lead to competing services. In this case, the Commission fears that Alphabet’s actions to comply with the DMA do not ensure the provision of third party services appearing on Google’s search results page will be treated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner compared to Alphabet’s own services, as required by Article 6 (paragraph 5) of the new rules.
Apple’s Compliance with User Choice Obligations
In parallel, the company has initiated proceedings against Apple in connection with its measures to comply with its obligations, which are intended to allow end users to easily uninstall any software application on iOS, to easily change default settings on iOS, and to prompt users with selection screens to allow them to be effective and simply select an alternative default service such as a browser or search engine on their iPhone.
Meta’s “Pay or Consent” model
Finally, the Commission has opened proceedings against Meta to investigate whether the recently introduced “pay or consent” model for users in the EU is compatible with the new law that requires gatekeepers to obtain users’ consent when they intend to combine or use your personal data in various basic services of the Platform.
In addition, the Commission is taking further investigative measures to gather facts and information to clarify whether this is the case Amazon may give preference Your own branded products in your Amazon shop, as well Apple’s new fee structure and other terms and conditions for alternative app stores.
The Commission has also issued five retention orders targeting Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, requiring them to retain documents that can be used to assess their compliance with WFD obligations, to preserve the available evidence and its effective application ensure. The Commission also granted Meta a six-month extension to comply with the interoperability obligation for Facebook Messenger. The decision is based on a specific provision of Article 7 (paragraph 3) of the WFD and responds to a reasoned request from Meta. Facebook Messenger remains subject to all other DMA obligations.
The municipal board, which is under the new regulatory framework may impose fines on non-compliant parties of up to 10% of their global business volume For a first offense and up to 20% for a repeat offense, you now have twelve months to make a decision.