“Today, the Commission has opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act into Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model’,” the Commission said in a statement.
The first two investigations will focus on Apple and Alphabet – relating to “anti-steering rules”. Under the DMA, tech companies must not block businesses from telling users about cheaper options for their products or about subscriptions outside of the app store.
“The way that Apple and Alphabet implemented the DMA rules on anti-steering seems to be at odds with the letter of the law. Apple and Alphabet will still charge various recurring fees, and still limit steering, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief said in a statement.
“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.”
Thierry Breton, the commissioner for the internal market said: “We are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses.
“Should our investigation conclude that there is a lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could face heavy fines.”
Big Tech response
Both Apple and Meta moved quickly to respond to the investigation.
An Apple spokesperson said that the company will constructively engage with the investigation and that they’re confident that their plan complies with the Digital Markets Act.
According to the BBC, the said their teams established a variety of mechanisms to comply with the EU’s landmark legislation, as well as privacy and security protections for EU users.
A Meta spokesperson said: “Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries, and we designed Subscription for No Ads to address several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the DMA.”
Alphabet is yet to comment.
Concerns
There had been concerns about Apple’s supposed lack of DMA compliance by several companies including Spotify, Epic Games and Blockchain.com earlier this month.
The companies wrote a joint letter to the European Commission outlining concerns that Apple’s proposed scheme for compliance with the DMA did not meet the law’s requirements.
“Apple’s new terms not only disregard both the spirit and letter of the law but if left unchanged, make a mockery of the DMA and the considerable efforts by the European Commission and EU institutions to make digital markets competitive,” the letter said.
The letter noted that Apple is offering app developers an unworkable choice between staying on its current terms – which are manifestly not compliant with the DMA – or opting into new terms, implying that only app developing opting into the new terms will benefit from the DMA.
“This is a false choice and merely adds unnecessary complexity and confusion.”
“In the absence of materially different proposals from Apple, we urge the European Commission to take swift, timely and decisive action against Apple, to protect developers and benefit consumers and do so as soon as the DMA obligations apply.
“This is the only way to guarantee the DMA remains both credible and delivers competitive digital markets.”
