The EU Plans to Launch an Investigation into Google, Apple, and Meta
The current rend of government crackdown on big tech continues – not too long after Apple was handed a lawsuit by the US Department of Justice, the European Union has likewise announced that it plans to investigate several big names in the industry including Google (under Alphabet Inc), Apple, and Meta. The investigation comes as part of the EU’s enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
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With that in mind, the investigations are looking into whether or not the said companies were guilty of violating certain regulations. If found at fault, the companies can be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover. The DMA was first introduced back in 2022, and seeks to reduce monopolies within the EU’s digital industry.
Interestingly, the DMA also covers a few other big names in the industry including Microsoft, Amazon, and ByteDance, which owns TikTok.
According to the EU, the investigation covers five major issues including whether or not Apple and Alphabet are limiting apps to communicate with users and make contracts with them, Apple implementing restrictions on users’ choices, Meta requiring people to pay to avoid their data being used for adverts, and whether or not Google’s search services give an advantage to the company’s own products. In a statement to the press, EU Antitrust head Margrethe Vestager comments:
“We suspect that the suggested solutions put forward by the three companies do not fully comply with the DMA We will now investigate the companies’ compliance with the DMA, to ensure open and contestable digital markets in Europe.”
Source: BBC