The European Commission today opened non-compliance investigations against Alphabet (from Google), Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), and Meta (owner of Facebook) under the new digital markets law, threatening fines of up to 10% of the turnover of these technological 'giants'.
"Today, the European Commission began non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act into Alphabet's rules on Google Play guidance and auto-preference in Google Search, Apple's rules on App Store guidance and the choice for Safari and the Meta payment or consent model” for suspecting that “the measures adopted by these access controllers do not allow the effective fulfillment of their obligations under the new law“, indicates the institution in a statement.
Specifically, with regard to Alphabet and Apple, the community executive states that he is “concerned about the fact that the measures may not be fully compliant, as they impose several restrictions and limitations”.
Covered are services such as Google Shopping, Google Flights and Google Hotels and, regarding Apple, software applications on the iOS operating system are at stake.
Regarding the owner of Facebook, Brussels says it is “concerned about the fact that the binary choice imposed by Meta's 'pay or consent' model may not offer a real alternative if users do not consent, thus not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by access controllers”.
Brussels intends to conclude the process started today within 12 months and, if it confirms the existence of an infringement, it can impose fines of up to 10% of the company's total turnover worldwide, which rise to 20% in the case of a repeated infringement, according to the rules of the new directive.
In the event of systematic infringements, the European Commission may also adopt additional corrective measures, such as forcing a gatekeeper to sell a company or parts thereof, or prohibiting the gatekeeper from purchasing additional services related to the systematic non-compliance.
At issue is the new Digital Markets Law, which applies to 'gatekeepers', companies that sometimes create barriers between companies and consumers and control entire ecosystems, made up of different platform services, such as online marketplaces, operating systems , cloud services or online search engines.
This designation of content intermediaries includes digital platforms with an annual turnover in the European Union (EU) or a market value of at least 7,5 billion euros, which operate in at least three Member States and have more than 45 million monthly active users.
In force in the EU since November 2022, the Digital Markets Law stipulates rules on what technology companies with 'gatekeeper' status are or are not allowed to do in the EU, a kind of blacklist with rules for these large platforms.
Today, it was also announced that, in addition to the issues under investigation, the European Commission wants to clarify whether Apple's new fee structure for alternative app stores and Amazon's classification practices in its market comply with the new Digital Markets Law .
The institution came today to demand documents from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to control the effective application and compliance with its obligations, according to the press release.
