LONDON (AP) – Europeans scrolling through their phones and computers this week will get new choices for their default browsers and search engines, where to download iPhone apps and how their personal data is used online.
They are a part changes required under the Digital Markets Acta set of European Union regulations that six tech companies classified as “gatekeepers” – Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance – will have to start complying with by midnight Wednesday.
DMA is the latest ua a series of regulations that Europe has become a global leader in curbing the dominance of large technology companies. Tech giants have responded — sometimes reluctantly — by changing some of their long-standing ways of doing business, such as Apple allowing people to install smartphone apps outside of your App Store.
The new rules have broad but vague aims to make digital markets “fairer” and more “competitive”. Efforts are underway worldwide to crash the tech industry they speed up the pace.
Here’s how the Digital Markets Act will work:
WHICH COMPANIES MUST FOLLOW THE RULES?
Some 22 services, from operating systems to messaging apps and social media platforms, will be targeted by the DMA.
These include Google services such as Maps, YouTube, the Chrome browser and the Android operating system, plus Amazon’s marketplace and Apple’s Safari browser and iOS.
Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are included, as well as Microsoft’s Windows and LinkedIn.
Companies face the threat of hefty fines worth up to 20% of their annual global revenue for repeat violations — which could reach billions of dollars — or even the collapse of their business for “systemic violations.”
WHAT EFFECT WILL THE RULES HAVE ON THE GLOBAL TITLE?
The Digital Markets Act is a new milestone for the 27-member European Union in its long-standing role as a global trendsetter in curbing the technology industry.
Block is previously hit Google with huge penalties in antitrust cases, introduced strict rules to clean up social media and introduces the world’s first regulations on artificial intelligence.
Now places like Japan, Britain, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Brazil and India are drafting their own versions of DMA-like rules aimed at preventing tech companies from dominating digital markets.
“We’re already seeing copycats around the world,” said Bill Echikson, senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based think tank. The DMA will “become the de facto standard” for digital regulation in the democratic world, he said.
Officials will be seeking guidance in Brusselssaid Zach Meyers, associate director of the Center for European Reform, a think tank in London.
“If it succeeds, many Western countries will likely try to follow the DMA to avoid fragmentation and the risk of taking a different approach that fails,” he said.
HOW WILL APP DOWNLOADING CHANGE?
In one of the biggest changes, Apple said it will allow European iPhone users to download apps outside of its App Store, which comes pre-installed on its mobile devices.
The company has long resisted such a move, and much of its revenue comes from the 30% fee it charges for payments — such as Disney+ subscriptions — through iOS apps. Apple has warned that “sideloading” apps will have additional security risks.
Now, Apple reduces those fees it collects from app developers in Europe who choose to stay within the company’s payment processing system. But it adds a fee of 50 euro cents for each iOS app installed through third-party app stores, which critics say will deter many existing free apps — whose developers currently pay nothing — from jumping ship.
“Why would they even choose a world where they have to pay 50 cents per user?” said Avery Gardiner, Spotify’s global director of competition policy. “So those alternative app stores are never going to become popular, because they’re going to be missing this huge chunk of apps that would have to be there to make the store attractive to customers.”
“It completely contradicts the very purpose of the DMA,” Gardiner added.
Brussels will be watching this closely are tech companies complying.
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said this week that after 10 years in the job, “I’ve seen quite a number of antitrust cases and quite a lot of creativity built into how to get around the rules we have.”
HOW WILL PEOPLE GET MORE OPTIONS ONLINE?
Consumers will not be forced to choose default key services.
Android users can choose which search engine to use by default, while iPhone users will be able to choose which browser to use. Europeans will see election screens on their devices. In the meantime, Microsoft will stop forcing people to use its Edge browser.
The idea is to prevent people from being tricked into using Apple’s Safari browser or Google’s Search app. But smaller players still worry they could end up worse off than before.
Users might just stick with what they recognize because they know nothing about other options, said Christian Kroll, CEO of Berlin-based search engine Ecosia.
Ecosia pushed for Apple and Google to include more information about competing services in the selection screens.
“If people don’t know what the alternatives are, it’s unlikely that many of them will choose the alternative,” Kroll said. “I’m a big fan of DMA. I’m not sure yet if it will have the results we’re hoping for.”
HOW WILL INTERNET SEARCHES CHANGE?
Some Google search results will appear differently because the DMA prohibits companies from prioritizing their own services.
So, for example, hotel searches will now show an additional “carousel” of booking sites like Expedia. Meanwhile, the Google Flights button on the search results display will be removed and the site will be listed among the blue links on the search results pages.
Users will also have options to stop being profiled for targeted advertising based on their online activity.
Google users are given the choice to stop sharing data between the company’s services to better target them with ads.
Meta allows users to separate their Facebook and Instagram accounts so that their personal information cannot be combined for ad targeting.
DMA also requires that messaging systems can interoperate with each other. Meta, which owns the only two chat apps that fall under the rules, is expected to make a proposal on how Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp users can exchange text messages, videos and images.