This European Union law takes effect from March 7, requiring technology giants to take measures to make it easier for users to switch to other parties' products and services, such as social networks. associations, Internet browsers and app stores, while protecting users' personal data.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager and European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton hold a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 3. Photo: REUTERS
Violations can result in fines of up to 10% of the company's global annual revenue.
Although somewhat unclear, the DMA's regulations aim to establish a “fairer” and “more competitive” digital market by breaking up traditionally closed technology ecosystems. Confining consumers to the products or services of a single company.
Six major technology companies, known as "gatekeepers" including Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and ByteDance, said they have deployed thousands of engineers to meet the requirements of the Digital Markets Act. .
But the European Commission said on Monday it suspected that the measures taken were not effective enough to comply with the DMA.
Therefore, the investigation aims to assess whether the tech giants are complying with the DMA regulations that require technology companies to allow application developers to direct users to software or applications available on the Internet. outside of their app store platforms.
Google competition chief Oliver Bethell said the company has made significant changes in the way it operates digital services in Europe in recent times and will continue to defend its approach going forward. .
Apple expressed that the company fully complies with the new law. “We are confident in our plans to comply with the DMA and will continue to cooperate constructively with the European Commission as they investigate,” said Julien Trosdorf, an Apple spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Meta spokesman Matt Pollard affirmed that the subscription model instead of advertising is a long-standing business model in many different industries. “We will continue to cooperate constructively with the Commission,” he said.
The EU executive aims to conclude investigations within a year, the timeframe set out under the DMA.
The EU investigations come amid growing criticism from app developers and business users about shortcomings in the compliance efforts of big tech companies.
Mai Anh (according to Reuters)
