If the suspicions are confirmed, companies face fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue or up to 20% in case of repeated violations.
How to report The Verge, the European Commission has initiated five investigations into Apple, Google, and Meta’s compliance with the EU’s new antitrust rules.
«We suspect that the solutions proposed by the three companies do not fully comply with the Digital Single Market Act», said Margrethe Vestager, head of the EU competition authority. «We are launching an investigation to ensure open and competitive digital markets in Europe».
The Commission will examine Google and Apple’s policies in their app stores and determine whether Google favors its own services in search results. It will also examine the browser selection screen on iOS and new Meta subscription «no ads». The investigation is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
Additionally, EU regulators will examine the new structure of Apple’s commissions on the distribution of apps outside the App Store, as well as whether Amazon favors its own products in the store. Meta was also given 6 months to make Messenger compatible with other messaging services.
«We are not convinced that Alphabet, Apple and Meta are fulfilling their commitments to a fair and open digital space for European citizens and companies», — said EU Commissioner Thierry Breton. «If our investigation concludes that there is a lack of full compliance with the Digital Markets Act, the companies could face heavy fines».
- The Law on Digital Markets, which came into force on March 7, proposes new antitrust rules for six so-called «gatekeepers» — large digital platforms providing online services (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance).
- Among other things, gatekeepers are obliged to give customers permission to change the default apps, use third-party app stores, and uninstall pre-installed apps; among the prohibitions is the promotion of their services in their own services ahead of competitors.
- For the first violation, the European Commission may fine each of the companies up to 10% of their annual global revenue, and up to 20% for repeated violations.
Earlier, the EU fined Apple $2 billion following Spotify’s complaint about «blocking» alternative music programs, and subsequently its own antitrust investigation against the company was initiated by the US Department of Justice.
Apple lost $113 billion due to «attacks» from EU and US regulators