Billions at stake as Brussels takes aim at Big Tech

The new EU’s Digital Markets Act allows Brussels to impose huge fines on ‘gatekeepers’ that restrict access to online services.

Apple has already been hit with a €1.8bn fine for stifling competition in music streaming. Picture: AFP

Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms are facing the threat of large fines after the European Commission revealed it was investigating them for potentially breaching a tough new law cracking down on Big Tech.

Its move comes little more than a fortnight after the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act came into force on March 7.

The law seeks to break the dominance of the huge technology companies that serve as “gatekeepers” to online services by making it easier for users to move between rival offerings.

Companies that are found to have violated the law could be fined as much as 10 per cent of their global annual turnover.

Apple and Alphabet, which own Google, were being investigated partly over their app stores, the commission said.

Alphabet is also being scrutinised over whether search results in Google unfairly push users towards its own products, while Apple faces an investi­gation into whether it easily ­allows users to switch away from its Safari browser and to uninstall applications on its iOS operating systems. The inquiry into Meta will examine the new ad-free subscriptions that it has introduced for its Facebook and Instagram social media sites.

Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s competition chief, said the fact that Brussels had moved so quickly after implementing the Digital Markets Act showed how seriously it took compliance with the new law.

Thierry Breton, the commissioner for the internal market, also denied that the bloc was rushing to take action against the trio. “The law is the law,” he said. “We can’t just sit around and wait.”

All three companies defended their adherence to the act. A Meta spokesman said: “Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries and we designed ‘Subscription for No Ads’ to address several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the Digital Markets Act.”

Apple said it was “confident” it complied with the law, and Alphabet said it had made “significant changes” to its services in Europe to adhere to the act and would “continue to defend our approach in coming months”.

The Digital Markets Act aims to overhaul the EU’s enforcement approach by setting clear rules about how technology companies should operate. The six groups designated as “gatekeepers” under the law are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance - the TikTok owner - Meta and Microsoft. The EU aims to conclude the investigations within a year.

The Times