In recent years, European regulators have ramped up efforts to curb the dominance of Big Tech companies through a series of investigations and new legislative frameworks.
Digital Markets Act (DMA)
The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect in 2022, aims to ensure fair competition by curbing the power of tech giants. In July, the European Commission, the EU’s competition authority, charged Meta for non-compliance with the DMA regarding its new “pay or consent” advertising model. The Commission has also launched multiple investigations into Apple and Google over possible violations of the act.
In September 2023, the EU designated 22 “gatekeeper” services operated by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance (owner of TikTok). These companies have been given six months to align with the DMA. Meta and TikTok challenged their gatekeeper status, but TikTok lost its appeal in February. Apple, meanwhile, stated in April that it is working to comply with the regulations.
Digital Services Act (DSA)
Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), tech companies must take stronger measures against illegal and harmful content. The European Commission began investigating Meta‘s Facebook and Instagram in May for potentially violating child safety rules, which could lead to significant fines.
Antitrust Actions
The European Commission has been active in antitrust enforcement:
- Apple agreed to open its mobile payment system to competitors in response to an antitrust probe. In March, Apple was fined €1.84 billion ($2 billion) for restricting competition from music streaming services on its App Store.
- In June, the Commission charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its Teams app with Office, and is also probing Microsoft’s security software practices.
- Google was fined €2.42 billion for unfairly using its price comparison service to outcompete smaller rivals, a decision upheld by a European court adviser in January.
National Investigations
In addition to EU-wide measures, individual countries have taken action:
- Britain’s antitrust regulator provisionally found Google guilty of abusing its dominance in digital advertising in September. The UK is also investigating Alphabet and Amazon‘s collaboration with AI startup Anthropic.
- Meta faced fines in Italy for unfair commercial practices, while Google was fined in France for violating EU intellectual property rules.
- Spain opened an investigation into Apple‘s App Store for possible anti-competitive practices in July.
These regulatory moves highlight Europe’s ongoing efforts to foster competition and ensure Big Tech complies with the region’s legal frameworks.