In its first probe under the new Digital Markets Act legislation, the European Union has launched a probe into Apple, Alphabet and Meta.
The EU’s non-compliance investigations are focused on “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.
As it relates to Apple and Alphabet’s “anti-steering rules”, the DMA rules that tech firms are not allowed to block businesses from telling their users about cheaper options for their products or about subscriptions outside of an app store.
Earlier this month, Apple was fined 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) after the European Commission found that the company had applied restrictions on app developers that prevented them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app.
The EU is also investigating whether Apple has complied with its DMA obligations to ensure that users can easily uninstall apps on iOS and change default settings.
The probe also focuses on whether Apple is actively prompting users with choices to allow them to change default services on iOS, such as for the web browser or search engine.
The fourth probe targets Alphabet and its display of Google search results which “may lead to self-preferencing in relation to Google’s,” other services such as Google Shopping, over similar rival offerings.
The fifth and final investigation focuses on Meta and its so-called “pay and consent” model. The Commission is looking into whether offering the subscription model without ads or making users consent to terms and conditions for the free service is in violation of the DMA.
The Commission intends to conclude its probes within 12 months and will inform the companies of its preliminary findings.
If any company is found to have infringed the DMA, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the tech firms’ total worldwide turnover. These penalties can increase to 20% in case of repeated infringement.
The Commission is also looking for facts and information to clarify whether Amazon may be preferencing its own brand products on its e-commerce platform over rivals.
