Big Tech Facing Changes With New EU Law

Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) took effect early March, impacting the way some of the largest tech platforms work in Europe.

Since the inception of the DMA in July 2022, various tech platforms have been working with European regulators to adapt the way their platforms function to adhere to the new regulations. These new regulations aim to give users more choice and create a more diverse and competitive market for European users.

The platforms that are most impacted are those designated gatekeepers. These are platforms that provide a “gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services.” Designated gatekeepers have at least 45 million monthly active users, 10,000 yearly business users, and have a large impact on the market.

The DMA has already selected six companies for this distinction: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. Additional companies, such as X and booking.com, are currently being assessed.

Apple announced earlier this year that it would be implementing some large changes in the EU, including allowing users to access and download apps from marketplaces other than the App Store, and giving developers access to more payment options when using iOS.

Google will be updating its Search to drive more traffic to independent comparison-shopping and travel booking sites beyond Google’s proprietary Google Flights.

Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp could even open up to allow users to communicate with other messaging apps such as Signal or Viber.

The DMA will also give users more control over sharing data between apps belonging to the same company. For example, users will be able to limit whether they want to share their Google Search history with YouTube. Likewise, Amazon users will be able to restrict data sharing between Prime Video, Kindle, and Amazon’s shopping platform.

Some tech companies have pushed back against the regulations. Google said the outcome could result in a degraded user experience if users stop sharing their data. Apple has also raised security concerns in opening its platform.

All changes that are being implemented are for the European market only where the DMA applies, with no tech companies yet announcing plans to roll out their changes to other markets.