EU Prepares for Major Antitrust Action Against Major Tech Companies Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta
Silicon Valley may face a fresh wave of legal battles as the European Union prepares for its largest crackdown on anti-competitive practices in the digital economy. Big Tech companies are gearing up for this significant regulatory action.
By Sept. 6, competition authorities will release a list of services that are likely to include Alphabet Inc.’s Google Search, Apple Inc.’s App Store, Amazon.com Inc.’s marketplace and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook. target rules designed to prevent the most efficient firms from destroying new markets before it is too late to act.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which comes into force early next year, will impose a strict dos and don’ts rule on companies that have previously left regulators in their wake despite a series of practices that have led to billions of euros in fines. and tax regulations.
It is illegal for certain platforms to favor their own services over competitors’ services. They must not combine personal data across their services, they must not use data they collect from third-party merchants to compete against them, and they must allow users to download apps from competing platforms.
But the groundwork has been laid for some companies to lock horns with the EU in the same courts that have heard challenges to antitrust enforcement years in the past – or since.
“There are likely to be lawsuits,” said Alexandre de Streel, academic director of the digital research program at the Center on Regulation in Europe, a think tank. “Setting up comprehensive services has not been as easy as expected.”
In a June 27 meeting between Apple and members of EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager’s cabinet, the company warned of compliance challenges, according to a copy of the meeting minutes obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The company stated its concerns about the scope of services covered and how the user experience could be secured.
In a separate email thread, Apple’s lawyers called for more “substantive discussions” about its DMA compatibility from September onwards.
Notes of a June 21 meeting between Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Vestager reveal that the company expressed concerns about “duplicative and conflicting regulation coming from national competition authorities.” The company has already denied being named under Germany’s own digital competition rules.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also held talks with Vestager to discuss the company’s compliance, which happened in mid-June.
As for other so-called gatekeepers, Microsoft Corp. has argued that its Bing search engine is too small a competitor to Google to face the rules. Google itself may have questions about how its search services will withstand the new rules, based on comments the company’s top European lawyer gave to regulators in December.
None of the Big Tech companies had an immediate comment to Bloomberg when asked how they plan to comply with the law. The European Commission declined to comment.
Following the Commission’s announcement this week, these listed platforms have six months to redesign their services to comply with the rules or file legal challenges against the designation decisions.
But while platforms may want to test the limits of the law in court, they may not have as much success, says Christophe Carugati, digital and competition partner at think tank Bruegel.
“If these platforms meet the necessary thresholds to come into scope, I don’t think they have a legitimate argument,” he said.
