Is it possible to limit the power of Google, Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Apple? and Microsoft? The European Union (EU) thinks so. So it takes until launch. Digital Markets Law (DMA, with its English abbreviation), for the first time in 20 years competition in the digital market and blocking the abusive practices of internet giants. The law will profoundly change their functioning. platformsand this will affect users.
on March 24, European Parliament and 27 agreed on new legislation. While there are still technical details to be polished, it is expected to be approved in July and go into effect in early 2023. The DMA will affect companies with a capitalization of at least 75,000 million euros or a turnover in the EU of around 75,000 million euros. It has 7.5 billion or more and at least 45 million users. These ‘watchmen’ are those mentioned above and companies Ali Dad This Reservation, who must assume certain obligations. If they don’t, they face penalties of between 10% and 20% of their annual global turnover.
for two decades tech giants they reinforced their dominant position in the market with practices that limit competition. Brussels It followed suit and fined Google, among others, more than 8,000 for measures such as featuring its services in search engine results. However, the slowness of this research led to the creation of the DMA, which aimed to limit these empires and give wings to other companies so they could succeed.
“In recent years, the European Commission has not had the power to respond to this abuse of power. Now there will be companies that will have to show that they don’t”, explains the German MEP Andreas Schwabthe legal rapporteur at a meeting with journalists in Strasbourg, attended by El Periódico de Catalunya of Prensa Ibérica, a newspaper of the same group as this newspaper.
How will it affect you?
The law will transform these platforms as we know them. Thus, it can force messaging apps to be interoperable with other small apps if they demand it. In practice, this means: iPhone You can send a message at Whats up, facebook messenger or received by a user from iMessage Telegram on your mobile phone Android. Thus, users of different platforms can “exchange messages, send files or make video calls,” according to the EU.
This point, whose technical details are little known, awaits consideration in the European Parliament. Even so, it ignited the spirits within Silicon valley and some experts warn that there is practically impossible integration between different systems. encryption Those used by these apps can compromise the privacy of user data. Big tech companies also denounce that this threatens their business as they will have to open up their systems to smaller competitors. competition. “SMEs will find it easier to grow,” says Schwab.
WFD is also mobile phone. The regulation will allow users to use a different app store than the one their device’s brand offers. Thus, those who own an Android mobile phone, app store Apple and iPhone owners Google Playsuch a radical change that it is hard to imagine.
The law will also prohibit companies from allowing users. uninstall apps installed by default on every device. This will have a direct impact on Google’s business, which has been paying Apple $8,000 to $12,000 million a year since 2019 for iPhones to use the search engine by default, and it already controls 90% of searches. The US Department of Justice accused both companies of abusing their powers with this agreement.
Break the ‘big tech’
The EU’s effort to regulate technology raises other questions. The law will force some of the world’s most powerful companies to reshape a business that brings them where they are. Some experts point out that this may mean that Google, Meta, Apple or Amazon platforms are different from those in Europe. United States of America and the rest of the world is unprecedented.
Another important question is how the EU will ensure compliance with the law. “The Commission is ultimately responsible for enforcing the Rules,” says popular MEP Pablo Arias, a member of the Internal Market Commission responsible for the DMA. If they do not comply, Brussels reserves the right to cease mergers between companies that “attempt to compete”. It is not clear how to intervene. “I hope we don’t get into that situation,” he explained. margrethe vestagerAK Vice President.