EU Opens Non-compliance Probe Against Alphabet, Apple And Meta Under Digital Markets Act

(RTTNews) - The European Commission said Monday it has opened non-compliance investigations against Google parent Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG), Apple Corp. (AAPL) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) under the Digital Markets Act. The Commission intends to conclude the proceedings opened today within 12 months.

The investigations involve Alphabet's rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple's rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta's "pay or consent model".

In case of an infringement, the Commission can impose fines up to 10% of the company's total worldwide turnover. Such fines can go up to 20% in case of repeated infringement.

The Commission suspects that the measures put in place by these gatekeepers fall short of effective compliance of their obligations under the DMA.

The Commission has also launched investigatory steps relating to Apple's new fee structure for alternative app stores and Amazon's ranking practices on its marketplace

Finally, the Commission has ordered gatekeepers to retain certain documents to monitor the effective implementation and compliance with their obligations.

Further, the Commission has granted Meta an extension of 6 months to comply with the interoperability obligation (Article 7 DMA) for Facebook Messenger. This follows a reasoned request submitted by Meta.