EU Investigations Into Apple, Meta, and Google Spurred by New Digital Competition Law
Apple, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet (the parent company of Google) are among the major U.S. IT corporations that are currently under investigation by the European Union (EU) in accordance with its comprehensive new digital-competition rules.
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act went into force earlier this month, and the set of investigations announced on Monday is the first of its kind. The Justice Department sued Apple less than a week ago, claiming that the company makes it hard for competitors to connect with the iPhone, which eventually leads to higher prices for customers. These lawsuits follow shortly after.
Now the European Union is going to look at how Google and Apple are following the laws that state they have to let app developers tell users about other offers outside of their primary app stores. Concerned about the limits digital corporations impose on developers’ freedom of communication with customers and promotion of their products, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, expressed its disapproval.
The European Union will also look into how Google altered the appearance of its search results in Europe. Under the new digital competition law, businesses can’t favor their own services above competing ones that provide comparable ones.
Another investigation will examine Apple’s practices regarding the display of choice screens that provide users with alternative search engine and browser alternatives, as well as the company’s compliance with regulations that state users should be able to easily remove software apps and modify default settings on their iPhones.
European officials have stated their intention to investigate Meta’s “pay or consent” scheme, which was unveiled in the fall, according to authorities. Subscribing to the service might cost as much as $11 per month for European customers who opt out of having their online behavior used to target adverts on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
A new law passed by the European Union (EU) earlier this month mandates a slew of regulations that the biggest internet companies in the world must follow in an effort to level the playing field in digital advertising, search engines, and app ecosystems. Earlier this week, a number of workshops were held in Brussels when companies started to present their compliance strategies to authorities, app developers, and competing companies.
