Starting now, the world’s six biggest tech companies must fully comply with the Digital Markets Act, a comprehensive set of EU rules designed to prevent them from stifling competition.
So what does this mean for those of us who use some of these companies’ platforms and products?
Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance has had to implement major changes to the way their products and services work as part of rules to make the digital economy fairer. And thanks to these changes, consumers in Europe can do things the rest of us are forbidden from doing, like downloading iPhone apps from third-party marketplaces or using WhatsApp to message loved ones who prefer other services.