Apple is one of three tech giants under investigation for failing to comply with the European Union’s new competition rules, in a further blow to the embattled smartphone maker.
Apple was the main focus of an EU press conference on Monday morning. But authorities have also opened a formal investigation into Meta and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The trio are the first to be subject to formal investigations under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark competition law, which came into force on March 7.
Under the new rules, six of the world’s largest technology companies, known in the EU as ‘gatekeepers’, were asked to provide evidence that they were not harming competition. “We are not convinced that Alphabet, Apple and Meta’s solutions respect their commitments to a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in a statement. rack on Monday. “Should our investigation reveal a lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could be subject to heavy fines.” Under the Digital Markets Act, officials can impose fines of up to 10 percent of tech giants’ global turnover or 20 percent for repeat violations.
After weeks of developer criticism of Apple, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said a formal investigation would focus on two elements of the smartphone maker’s activities: Apple’s restrictions on developers trying to move from the App Store to their own websites, and how difficult Apple makes it to replace standard, native apps like Photos or iCloud with third-party alternatives.
“Gatekeepers have an obligation to enable easy removal of apps and easy changes to default settings,” Vestager said during the press conference. “Apple’s compliance model does not appear to meet the purpose of this obligation.”
EU officials are also still considering a formal investigation into whether Apple’s rules for alternative app stores – which allow users to download apps from places other than the official App Store – comply with the rules of the Digital Markets Act. Apple is confident its company is in compliance, company spokesman Rob Saunders told WIRED. “Teams at Apple have created a wide range of new developer capabilities, features and tools to comply with regulations,” he said in a statement. “At the same time, we have introduced safeguards to help mitigate new risks to the privacy, quality and security of our EU users’ experience.”
Apple has become a focal point for competition officials in both the EU and the US. The EU announcement on Monday follows a lawsuit filed last week by the US Justice Department, alleging the smartphone maker established an iPhone monopoly that stifled competition and harmed consumers.
The lawsuit cited four internal Apple emails that, the DOJ alleged, illustrate how executives knowingly and unfairly restrict users and developers. In a 2010 conversation, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and an unnamed Apple executive discussed how a new ad for Amazon’s Kindle gave the impression that it’s easy to switch from iPhone to Android. “Not fun to watch,” the director wrote.