EU probing against Apple, Google, Meta

London: European Union (EU) regulators opened investigations into Apple, Google and Meta on Monday, the first cases under a sweeping new law designed to stop Big Tech companies from cornering digital markets.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said it was investigating the companies for ‘non-compliance’ with the Digital Markets Act.

The Digital Markets Act that took full effect earlier this month is a broad rulebook that targets Big Tech ‘gatekeeper’ companies providing ‘core platform services.’

Those companies must comply with a set of do’s and don’ts, under threat of hefty financial penalties or even breaking up businesses. The rules have the broad but vague goal of making digital markets ‘fairer’ and ‘more contestable’ by breaking up closed tech ecosystems that lock consumers into a single company’s products or services. The commission has heard complaints that tech companies’ measures to comply have fallen short, European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said at a press briefing in Brussels.