European Commission: Apple and Google violate the Digital Markets Act News
© WikiMedia (Donald Trung Quoc Don (Chữ Hán: 徵國單))
European Commission: Apple and Google violate the Digital Markets Act

The European Commission announced preliminary findings against Apple and Google, charging them with two violations of the Digital Markets Act on Wednesday.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the EU’s law to regulate the power of large digital platforms to ensure a fair and contestable market. The European Commission designated gatekeepers under the DMA, which contains obligations and prohibitions.

In 2024, the European Commission announced two specification proceedings regarding Apple’s compliance with its interoperability obligations under the DMA. The interoperability obligation under the DMA requires Apple to provide developers and businesses with free and effective interoperability with hardware and software features controlled by Apple’s operating system. The specification proceedings clarify the measures Apple must implement to ensure effective compliance with DMA obligations.

The order against Apple is related to the interoperability obligation. The Commission requests that Apple make its operating system available to its competitors so they can connect with Apple’s devices. Also, the order includes a timeline for how Apple should respond to requests from app developers to open up its systems.

The charges against Google concern its practices on Google Play and Google’s search engine. The regulators said that Google prioritized its own services over rivals in search results. This violates the obligation to ensure fair competition under the DMA, which requires gatekeepers to treat third-party services in a “transparent, fair, and non-discriminatory” way. Also, the Commission stated that Google prevents app developers from providing better offers by blocking them from steering users to other channels. A service fee for facilitating the inflow of new customers is alleged to be a problem.

Oliver Bethell, Google’s senior director for competition, said in a blog post: “Today’s announcement by the European Commission pushes for more changes to Google Search, Android, and Play that will hurt European businesses and consumers, hinder innovation, weaken security, and degrade product quality.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

'Wobblies' put on trial in Chicago

On March 23, 1918, 101 leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World union ("The Wobblies") were put on trial in Chicago for conspiracy to obstruct America's participation in World War I. Learn more about the Wobblies from the Constitutional Rights Foundation.

Pakistan becomes world's first Islamic republic

On March 23, 1956, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan became the world's first Islamic republic. Unfortunately, democracy in Pakistan collapsed quickly after General Ayub Khan lead a successful coup d'etat. Since that time, Pakistan has vacillated between military and civilian government. Pakistan was governed by the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan, until it was superseded by the 1973 Constitution, which still serves as the country's basic law today.