The European Commission said on Monday that it will investigate Apple, Meta, and Google-owner Alphabet over suspected violations of European Union rules for online "gatekeepers."
The probes are the first non-compliance investigations under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which took effect on March 7 and regulates the behaviour of companies the commission deems to be "gatekeepers" in the digital economy.
A gatekeeper is a company that holds a powerful, entrenched position in the EU's digital economy, acting as an intermediary between many users and businesses.
The commission has designated six gatekeepers: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tiktok owner ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.
Gatekeepers that fail to comply with their obligations under the DMA can face fines as high as 10% of their global annual revenue. Repeat offenders may be fined as much as 20%.
The investigations into Alphabet and Apple concern suspected non-compliance with a DMA provision requiring gatekeepers to "steer" customers to offers outside their app stores, free of charge.
For example, the two companies "constrain, among other things, developers' ability to freely communicate and promote offers and directly conclude contracts," a commission press release said.
Also under scrutiny is whether Alphabet gives preference to its services in Google search results.
"The commission is concerned that Alphabet's measures implemented to comply with the DMA may not ensure that third-party services featuring on Google's search results page are treated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner in comparison with Alphabet's own services," the EU executive said in its press release.
Furthermore, the commission is investigating whether Apple complies with various DMA rules governing user choice in iOS, the operating system for its smartphones and tablets.
In particular, the probe will examine whether iOS makes it easy enough for users to uninstall any app they wish and to change the default settings.
The commission is also investigating whether Apple is adequately fulfilling its DMA obligation to prompt users with screens asking them to choose between alternative defaults for certain apps and services, such as the web browser or search engine.
Meta is being investigated over its recently-introduced policy of asking users to choose between paying to use its services and consenting to their personal data being shared between the company's services - such as Facebook and Instagram - for use in targeted advertising.
"The commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta's 'pay or consent' model may not provide any real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers," the EU executive said on Monday.
Although the commission has not announced a DMA non-compliance investigation into Amazon, its press release on Monday said that Amazon may be giving its own brand products on the Amazon Store an advantage.
The press release said the commission is taking "investigatory steps to gather facts and information to clarify whether" that is the case.
Similarly, it will look into whether Apple's terms and conditions for the use of alternative app stores on its devices "may be defeating the purpose of its obligations."
The EU executive is also asking Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft "to retain documents which might be used to assess their compliance with the DMA obligations."
As with Amazon, the commission has not announced a non-compliance investigation into Microsoft. The press release does not mention any actions with regard to ByteDance.
