Apple, Google confirm new EU 'gatekeeper' law applies to them
A swathe of Big Tech firms ranging from Apple to TikTok owner Bytedance have told the EU that they fall under the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), signalling that they accept its rules about messaging apps.
It's not that there was any doubt over whether the major Big Tech companies came under the aegis of the new law, especially since it was effectively created to target them. But now European Commission industry chief Thierry Breton says the firms have formally notified the EU that they qualify.
According to Reuters, Breton and the EU have announced that six companies have said they come under the new rules:
- Apple
- Alphabet/Google
- Amazon
- Meta/Facebook
- Microsoft
- ByteDance
"Europe is completely reorganizing its digital space to both better protect EU citizens and enhance innovation for EU startups and companies," said Breton said in a statement announcing the news.
The Digital Markets Act came into force on November 1, 2022, and became applicable on May 2, 2023. Chief among the requirements for companies that fall under the EU's definition of "gatekeeper," is that they must allow their rival messaging apps to be interoperable.
There are other requirements, such as ones regarding the use of third-party app stores. In 2022, Gerard de Graaf, an EU official who helped pass the DMA, expects it to affect about a dozen companies.
"We expect the consequences to be significant," said de Graaf at the time. "If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not just from the App Store but from other app stores or from the internet."
The EU defines a gatekeeper as a large online platform, and the aim of the Digital Markets Act is to make such platforms fairer for competing services. Failure to comply with the DMA rules could trigger an EU investigation, which might lead to "behavioral or structural remedies."
Fines of 10% of total worldwide turnover could also be imposed, rising to 20% for repeat offenders.
To qualify as a gatekeeper under the EU's definition, companies must have more 45 million active users monthly. They must also have at least a 75 billion euro market capitalization.
The EU will now confirm the gatekeeper status of the firms, and announce the confirmation by September 6, 2023. Following that, the firms have six months to comply with the DMA rules.
Digital Markets Act rules
If companies are confirmed to be gatekeepers, the DMA's rules will require many changes by Apple. The company will, for instance, have to allow both third-party app stores and therefore also side-loading of apps on iPhones.
Apple will also have to allow developers to use third-party payment systems, rather than be required to use Apple's one.
Users will have to be able to abandon Siri in favor of an alternative voice assistant, too.
And Big Tech gatekeepers will be forbidden from highlighting its own services over those of rivals, such as unfairly promoting Apple Music on the App Store more than Spotify.
That promotion of a firm's own services comes under the EU's anti-steering rules. Separately, Apple attended a closed-session hearing with the EU on Friday, June 30, 2023, arguing against a Spotify-led complaint specifically about Apple Music anti-steering.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
The consequences of turning iOS into Windows will be significant but not in the manner that they like to promote to the public.
Because that would be completely crazy! 😉
And siloing has a point. I don’t need to be bombarded with scam messages because a certain company’s revenue stream is bolstered by their lax rules.
And no, I don’t want my iOS to be like macOS … I use macOS or Android when I want that. How do ya’ll not get how product differentiation works? Do you post on the Home Depot thread about how your Philips screwdriver doesn’t pound nails, or do you grab a hammer?
There’s also the obvious fact that macOS’s is security model is more and more like iOS, for good reason. Has everyone forgotten that these restrictions were put in place to combat security threats on devices that were even more capable of intruding on our lives?
Do you not read significant research on how “more options” isn’t an inherent good, and often brings quality down? Anyone? Did we forget what the race to the bottom has done for PC and Android manufacturers? (I’ve got a vivid recollection of decades of test equipment that has failed in spectacular ways vs my Apple hardware. Even the expensive models.)
Can I go to Germany and buy things in Canadian dollars or Mexican pesos, without exchanging into Euros first? Will stores carry the cost of exchanging for me?
Or can I pump diesel fuel into my gas car?
The point is that there are millions of points of friction that could be eased, but they aren’t for a variety of reasons, both economic and engineering. The EU could go after some of those. But let’s face it, it’s really kowtowing to what European businesses want, not what’s better for its people.
Ya’ll need to stop taking your pet peeves out on the rest of us and just use a platform that caters to your type of needs. They’ve been around for decades now. Move already. You have options.
Because at that point, you don't have a choice but to keep buying their products.
You have to realise that this doesn't apply just to Apple — it applies to ANY manufacturer who might invest less and less into building shittier and shittier products, while holding their customers hostage.
I suspect anonymized AppleID for registering on all these will be at-least an option. If you can buy with Apple pay, likely completely untraceable unless criminal.
And these options are likely because Apple has anticipated this due to the long process and signalling from EU regulators.
For Apple. privacy pays... So they have an incentive to do it properly.
You can contract services with as many carriers as you want. At least in the EU. You would need a number for each one.
Ironically you can't do that in the US because choice is actually limited and that lack of choice is bad. Terrible even.
Interoperability is where we should have been long ago.
Why do you think .pdfs are so popular?
Why do you think standards of any kind exist?
IM has been about isolation and in some cases, lock in. Apple Messages doesn't even make it clear that it isn't sending an IM message to Android users. It simply bundles it up as an SMS and sends it off.
The discussion on interoperability has nothing to do with the discussion on security.
Sometimes there will be limits to what can be done. No, you can't put any petrol in any car, but then again you can't get fried eggs out of a toaster either.
Let's apply some common sense. Once the technicalities have been resolved on the back end, can you give me a single good reason why interoperability should not be the ultimate goal of instant messaging?
This legislature isn't forcing anyone to allow other manufacturers' engines, but about letting you actually take your luggage, your umbrella, and your phone back out of the car when you want to use a different car.
They very much do benefit the consumer and go far, far beyond. Air quality, food safety...
Just look a post-Brexit water quality of rivers, lakes and the sea of the UK. Would anyone dare dip a toe into any of that after the government relaxed legislation?
As for the market deciding.
You seem to have forgotten that there are numerous investigations underway into precisely how the gatekeepers stifle market forces.