Digital Markets and the DMA: What Alphabet, Google, and iOS have in Common with Other Mobile Platforms, and How Google Will Respond to Their Comments

The EU believes that designated platforms can make digital markets more fair and open. For example, we have to allow third-party companies to co-exist with our services and we can not condition app store access for outside developers on using their payments systems.

The European Commission presumes a platform is a gatekeeper if it meets two conditions. First, it must have an annual EU revenue of at least €7.5 billion in each of the last three fiscal years or an average market cap of €75 billion in the last fiscal year, while providing its core platform to at least three EU member states. It must operate a core platform with at least 45 million active monthly users in the EU and 10,000 active yearly users each of the last three fiscal years.

The commission identified specific services for each of the designated gatekeepers that it believes are subject to DMA rules. Gatekeepers that fail to comply with the rules can face fines of up to 10 percent of global revenue, and up to 20 percent for repeat infractions.

From a dominant search engine to a major web browser to a popular mobile operating system, Alphabet has a variety of services to bolster their power. That’s given it the widest range of covered services under the DMA:

Consequently, the company announced a variety of changes in January and March, affecting everything from data sharing to search results for EU users. The highlights include a lot.

Alphabet’s proposed changes have displeased certain competitors, particularly smaller, specialized search platforms. Online reviews platform Yelp recently claimed the search changes not only “violate the DMA’s prohibition against self-preferencing, they actually increase the rate at which users will remain within Google’s walled garden.” The concept of choice screens as an effective way of promoting competition has been questioned by Megan Gray, the former counsel for DuckDuckGo. And Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, whose company is suing Google for antitrust violations in the US, has objected strenuously to its Android payment framework. There are still questions over the dominance of the company, but they have staked out their starting point.

Apple is one of the highest-profile DMA targets, thanks to its expansive mobile walled garden. The iOS operating system, Safari web browser, and App Store are all designated as “core platform services,” and much of the conversation has centered on how far it will have to open them up.

The changes set to be introduced for EU residents with iOS 17.4 technically comply with DMA rules, but they come with new conditions that are onerous for developers. The commission Apple takes for apps hosted on third-party app stores will be reduced by 50 cents, according to the incoming policies. “Core Technology Fee” if they reach over a million downloads — with the only alternative being to stick with the company’s original 15–30 percent commission rate.

Apple changed its approach when it didn’t work. The new rules it announced on January 25th for developers releasing iOS software in the European Union in response to the DMA have, suffice to say, rustled some jimmies.

Given that, companies haven’t exactly lined up to accept Apple’s offer. The DMA takes effect on March 7th, and the only one that claims it will be available in a hurry foriOS users is Mobivention. Both browsers, while seemingly experimenting with new browsers, have not given an official announcement on when they will be available.

Facebook operator Meta has a long history of absorbing rival social networks and messaging services. The services covered by the DMA are concentrated in these areas:

Targeted advertising is Meta’s bread and butter, and last year it aimed to address concerns by letting users pay to avoid ads — launching a €9.99 per month ad-free tier for Facebook and Instagram, then giving the tier (as of March 1st) There is an extra fee for linked accounts. It also paused ads for users younger than 18, although its long-term plans there are less clear.

Users do not have a real choice because of the very high subscription fee, which resulted in a lawsuit from the European Consumer Organisation. In January, Meta announced the gradual rollout of some other data protection features, including the ability to sever linked Facebook and Instagram accounts and manage them separately.

But the most exciting change for many people is the prospect of third-party cross-platform messaging, which Meta announced for its WhatsApp service last year. We expect more details on this messaging support as the decree takes effect, after we know what it will look like for WhatsApp and Messenger.

These changes are being made despite Meta appealing certain parts of its designation. It argued in November that both Messenger and Marketplace weren’t on the list because they weren’t consumer-to-consumer services. As of this week’s deadline, the challenge remains ongoing.

Google, Facebook, Twitter and ByteDance: How the DMA affects Amazon, its retail, and e-commerce giants

Amazon’s retail powerhouse is built on a complex data collection system and huge third-party marketplace, which some sellers complain has given it an unfair leg up. The online marketplace and its advertising business are both under the auspices of theDMA.

The e-commerce giant has outlined some of the changes it’s making to the way businesses manage their ads, as well as customers’ control over them. Customers who visit its EU store will be asked for permission to collect their information for personalized ads. Accepting these terms will have an effect on Amazon’s ability to collect information across its entertainment services, as well as on its smart home devices,Kindle e-readers, app stores, operating systems and Fire tablets. It could make it harder for Amazon to sell and surface personalized ads in the EU.

Microsoft’s Windows operating system falls under the DMA’s regulations, and that’s changing how much the company promotes — or lets users avoid — numerous other apps and services inside it.

All of these changes have already been rolling out to machines in the EEA, getting Microsoft ready for compliance day. We’re now waiting to see if Google decides to release its own add-in for Google search results in the Windows Search interface. There could potentially be a number of Windows Widgets providers soon, too.

Chinese giant ByteDance is the only non-US company designated as a gatekeeper under the DMA so far, and it’s got only one covered service: the social network TikTok.

TikTok will comply with the DMA, according to ByteDance. The platform launched an app that will let European users transfer their data to other apps that are registered with TikTok. Registered developers can port posts, followers, and other activity from TikTok to their own apps with users’ permission. The downloaded data tool was improved by TikTok, allowing individual users to export and download their data. And it will have “enhanced data portability solutions” for business accounts.

The European court shot down TikTok’s request to not be designated, despite the company’s desire to have more time to comply.

But some experts believe the status quo is unlikely to shift. Many of the companies in the area have announced compliance plans in response to the DMA and it’sunlikely that the changes will result in a loss of power. European developers are at a disadvantage since Apple seems to be engaging in malicious compliance.

That makes it difficult to gauge how much consumers and smaller competitors actually stand to gain. Jan Penfrat, senior policy advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi) told The Verge that none of the changes proposed by gatekeepers “have led to any meaningful change to the power structures that help keep those companies at the top,” though he notes that some actions will take time to yield results. For example, Alphabet must now allow people to remove Google apps on their Android phones — it’s possible this could snowball into benefiting smaller providers, though that remains to be seen.

Those fees can add up quickly if an app becomes victims of their own success, which might be fine for apps with a limited number of users. An example provided by David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, shows how Meta would have to fork over nearly a century’s worth of money to host just Facebook’s photo sharing service.

The consequences of Apple’s decision to drop support for progressive web apps in the EU – and how much do they depend on WebKit?

Apple previously decided to drop support for progressive web apps (PWAs) in the EU, going as far as to blame the DMA. After facing a potential investigation from the EU, the company has walked back that decision. Though they will have to be built using WebKit, they will continue to exist. In reply to the DMA, Apple allows third-party browsers in the EU to use their own engines. The downloaded PWAs will rely on the WebKit in those browsers.