Apple, Google hit back at EU's landmark Digital Markets Act
New measures aim to overhaul how big tech firms conduct business in Europe
Tech giants including Google and Apple have criticised the European Union's newly-unveiled Digital Markets Act (DMA) for being stricter than originally anticipated.
Apple said it was concerned that some parts of the DMA would lead to unnecessary security and privacy vulnerabilities for its users, while others will prohibit the company from charging for intellectual property in which they have invested a significant amount of money.
Google said that while it supports many of the DMA ' s goals in terms of consumer choice and interoperability, the company is worried that some of the measures may limit innovation and choice for customers in Europe. The firm added that it would review the text and work with regulators in its implementation.
Amazon said it was studying the guidelines and their implications for its consumers.
To date, the EU antitrust regulators have dealt with antitrust issues on a case-by-case basis, but the DMA aims to bring in a slew of ground-breaking measures that could shake up the way big tech firms do business.
Last week, EU officials agreed on the text for the DMA, which is part of a long-awaited overhaul of the bloc's digital rules.
The act, which still needs additional approvals, aims to prohibit large technology firms from monopolising digital marketplaces, with massive penalties if rules are violated.
The EU stated in a statement that large companies, such as social networking platforms and search engines, with a market capitalisation of at least €75 billion (£62.5 billion) or annual revenue of at least €7.5 billion (£6.5 billion) would be subject to the legislation.
To be designated as "gatekeepers", services such as browsers, messengers or social media, must have at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU.
Companies violating the rules repeatedly might face fines of up to 20 per cent of their global revenues, as well as the possibility of being split up.
Under proposed rules, they would not be able to rank their own items or services higher in internet search results than those of others, nor would they be able to reuse data collected from different services.
The largest messaging services —Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage — would be required to interoperate with smaller rivals, if they make a request. Interoperability for social media platforms would be examined later, according to the statement.
Meta, Google, and other firms would no longer be able to provide targeted advertisements across various platforms without receiving explicit consent from users.
Similarly, Amazon would not be allowed to offer competing merchandise based on data obtained from outside sellers.
The DMA is expected to take effect as soon as October of this year.
After years of complaints that previous antitrust measures were too sluggish and ineffective, EU legislators have defended the new laws.
According to Margrethe Vestager, the EU's executive vice-president in charge of digital policy, the new regulation will ensure that the market is open and competitive.
Thierry Breton, the French commissioner in charge of the internal market said that they are "regaining control".
The legislation's text will now be finalised on a technical level and checked by linguists and lawyers, before it is sent for approval by the European Parliament and the European Council.
The Act will go into force 20 days after the final text is published in the EU Official Journal and will apply six months from that date.