The European Union has launched investigations into Alphabet, Apple, and Meta for potentially breaching the Digital Markets Act, which aims to prevent Big Tech from having an unfair advantage over competitors. These companies were designated as “gatekeepers” and given six months to comply with the rules, with fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover for violations. The EU Commission hopes to wrap up the probes within a year.
Two of the investigations relate to Alphabet and Apple’s payment systems and anti-steering behavior, where app developers encourage consumers to make payments directly to them to avoid extra charges from big tech companies. Apple has already been fined $2 billion for blocking users of music streaming services from accessing discounts outside its own payments ecosystem. The EU is now investigating whether more consumers have been prevented from accessing offers outside of Apple and Google’s control.
Another area of investigation is self-preferencing, where tech companies are accused of prioritizing their own products over rivals on online marketplaces. The EU is looking into whether Google prioritizes its own services in search queries, potentially limiting business for competitors like Booking.com or Skyscanner. Amazon is also being investigated for potentially favoring its own products in its online store.
Under the Digital Markets Act, Apple was supposed to make it easy for users to uninstall software and change default settings, which the EU is investigating. The law also requires platforms to gain explicit consent from users when combining data across different platforms, such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. Meta introduced a “pay or be tracked” policy but faced questions over its legality. The EU said this binary choice does not provide a real alternative for users and will investigate further.
Google, which made changes to its services ahead of the deadline, said it would defend its approach. Apple expressed confidence that its plan complied with the DMA, while Meta said it was trying to comply with the act’s guidance. The companies are facing scrutiny over issues related to anti-steering behavior, self-preferencing, data consent, and more. The investigations aim to ensure fair competition in the tech industry and protect consumers from potential abuses of power by Big Tech companies like Alphabet, Apple, and Meta.
