How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates

Google just announced a change for users in Europe that will let them decide exactly how much data-sharing they’re comfortable with. The new policy, which the company said was in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), allows users to opt out of data sharing across all, some, or none of a select number of Google’s services. The services listed include YouTube, Search, ad services, Google Play, Chrome, Google Shopping, and Google Maps. But the policy isn’t watertight — Google will still share user data when it’s necessary to complete a task (e.g., if you’re paying for a purchase on Google Shopping with Google Pay) in order to comply with the law, stop fraud, or protect against abuse.

That’s not the biggest change that Google will have to make to comply with the DMA, which goes into effect on March 6th. The law also includes additional rules on interoperability and competition. For example, Google will no longer be able to treat its own services more favorably in Search’s ranking than other third-party services.

Apple is appealing a European Union decision that would see its App Store hit with tough new obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Reuters reports that its plea argues against the European Commission’s designations of its App Store and the iMessage service.

According to Reuters, Apple argues that the Commission’s treatment of the App Stores on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch as a single store is based on “material factual errors,” as they all distribute apps for a specific platform and type of device.

Following its rollout in countries like the US and UK this past July, Threads will finally be expanded to users in the European Union on December 14th. Meta hasn’t made an official announcement yet, instead opting to sneakily update the Threads website with an untitled countdown timer (which won’t be viewable in countries where Threads is already available) with just under six days remaining on the clock. 

European Instagram users can also search for the term “ticket” within the app to discover a digital invitation to Threads, alongside a scannable QR code and a launch time — which may vary depending on the country in which the user is based. We have contacted Meta to confirm the details, like which EU countries Threads might launch in, and will update this story if we hear back.

Apple says that, in 2024, the iPhone will add support for RCS messaging, the newer standard used by most Android phones, according to a report from 9to5Mac.

“Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association,” Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy says in a statement also shared with The Verge. “We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”

Microsoft will soon let Windows 11 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) disable its Bing web search, remove Microsoft Edge, and even add custom web search providers — including Google if it’s willing to build one — into its Windows Search interface.

All of these Windows 11 changes are part of key tweaks that Microsoft has to make to its operating system to comply with the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, which comes into effect in March 2024. Microsoft will be required to meet a slew of interoperability and competition rules, including allowing users “to easily un-install pre-installed apps or change default settings on operating systems, virtual assistants, or web browsers that steer them to the products and services of the gatekeeper and provide choice screens for key services.”

Meta is challenging the European Commission’s decision to regulate two of its services, Messenger and Marketplace, as gatekeepers under the bloc’s tough new restrictions on tech platforms. The company filed an appeal over the two services today arguing that neither should qualify, Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro told The Verge.

Reuters reported earlier Meta will not fight the European Commission’s gatekeeper designation from being applied to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

iMessage serves as “an important gateway between business users and their customers” and should be regulated as a “core” service under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), said Google and a group of major European telcos in a letter sent to the European Commission, and seen by The Financial Times. Being designated as a “core platform service” would be significant for iMessage, as it could compel Apple to make it interoperable with other messaging services.

The letter arrives as the European Commission investigates whether iMessage meets the requirements to be regulated under the bloc’s strict DMA rules.

A WhatsApp for Android beta update (version 2.23.19.8) that came out today contains a new screen called Third-party chats, reports WABetaInfo. For now, the screen is neither functional nor accessible by users, according to WABetaInfo. But its title is a strong clue that this is likely the first step to opening Meta’s encrypted messages app to cross-platform compatibility.

The beta comes just days after the European Commission confirmed that WhatsApp owner Meta meets the definition of a “gatekeeper” under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires communication software like WhatsApp to interoperate with third-party messaging apps by March 2024. WABetaInfo tweeted a screenshot of the screen:

Apple and Microsoft have managed to temporarily prevent iMessage and Bing being subjected to obligations under the EU’s strict new Digital Markets Act. Instead, the European Commission announced on Wednesday that it’s opened four market investigations into Bing, Edge, Microsoft Advertising, and iMessage, to determine whether they should be designated as ”core platform services” under the DMA.

The DMA — one of several new EU laws designed to restrict the power of tech companies and help create a level playing field — creates a host of new obligations for large tech companies. Messaging services like iMessage are required to offer other companies some level of interoperability if they’re deemed to be big and important enough. Bing would be obligated to share certain data upon request, and offer a choice of other search engines if it receives an official designation.

Microsoft and Apple are reportedly pushing to keep Bing and iMessage, respectively, off a list of “gatekeepers” subject to new European regulations. Financial Times reports that both companies are privately (and separately) arguing that their services aren’t large or powerful enough to justify earning the restrictions of the Digital Markets Act, a rule designed to promote competition in tech.

The European Commission is set to publish a list of designated gatekeepers on September 6th, naming overall companies as well as specific services they offer. These powerful platforms, defined based on their revenue and user numbers, will be required to meet a slew of interoperability and competition rules. Apple and Microsoft — along with Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, ByteDance, and Samsung — were already known to be on the list, but the commission will have to determine which parts of their empires should be covered. Once the EU has designated its gatekeepers, they will have six months, or until March of 2024, to comply with the DMA’s rules.

Last week, Meta debuted its Twitter competitor, Threads. The app gained over 100 million users in less than a week after launching in more than 100 countries, including the US and UK — but you won’t be able to download it in the European Union anytime soon. The app has been held up by what Meta spokesperson Christine Pai described to The Verge as “upcoming regulatory uncertainty,” widely assumed to refer to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Tech companies and regulatory skeptics have long claimed that laws like the DMA hold back innovation by requiring onerous user protections, but the looming competition law doesn’t stop Meta from introducing new products — and Meta hasn’t indicated it will forgo a European launch. If anything, the DMA adds friction to slow down a product’s launch and force the company to evaluate how it protects users before letting it out in the wild — even if it diminishes Threads’ popularity out of the gate. But there’s still plenty of uncertainty as companies wait for more guidance later this fall as well as an open question: will complying with Europe’s rules undercut the design that’s let Threads grow so quickly?

An important deadline just passed for the biggest tech platform companies in the world to notify the European Union (EU) that they are gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Seven companies have officially acknowledged they meet the criteria: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp), Microsoft, and Samsung. Companies on the list have a market capitalization of over €75 billion ($82 billion) and own a social platform or app that has at least 45 million monthly users or 10,000 active business users.

The statement published by EU commissioner Thierry Breton says it “will now check their submissions and designate the gatekeepers for specific platform services by 6 September,” and after that, the companies will have just six months to comply with the DMA’s rules.

Meta is planning to let people in the EU directly download apps through Facebook ads, setting the company up to eventually compete with Google and Apple’s app stores.

The new type of ad is set to start as a pilot with a handful of Android app developers as soon as later this year, I’ve learned. Meta sees an opening to try this thanks to new regulation in the EU called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that is expected to go into effect next spring. It deems Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and requires that they open up their mobile platforms to alternative methods of downloading apps.

Apple is planning to let users install alternative app stores on iOS, according to a report from Bloomberg. The shift would be a remarkable change from the company, which has famously only allowed iPhone and iPad users to download apps from the App Store.

The plans are reportedly being spurred on by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is meant to enact “rules for digital gatekeepers to ensure open markets” when its restrictions become a requirement in 2024, according to a press release.

The European Union aims to begin enforcing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in spring 2023, Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager announced at the International Competition Network (ICN) conference last week, as first reported by TechCrunch. Vestager previously stated that the antitrust legislation, which introduces a new set of rules to curb the power of Big Tech, could be implemented as early as October of this year.

“The DMA will enter into force next spring and we are getting ready for enforcement as soon as the first notifications come in,” Vestager said during her speech at the ICN. As noted by TechCrunch, Vestager suggests that the Commission will be prepared to act against any violations made by “gatekeepers” — a classification that includes Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon — as soon as the laws come into force.

At the moment, getting access to iMessage’s features on non-Apple devices is a complete pain. In fact, getting access to any messaging platform’s features outside of its native apps can range from difficult to almost impossible. Whether it’s Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Signal, in every case, the services’ developers want you to stick to their own software to message on their platforms.

But new rules announced by the European Union last week could pave the way for the barriers around these walled platforms to be dismantled. The new Digital Markets Act (DMA) includes a clause that says large messaging services could be compelled by other companies to offer interoperability with their platforms. It wouldn’t force Apple to make iMessage for Android, but it could allow another company to demand Apple open up its messaging service and then produce a third-party Android client with relative ease. 

On March 24th, EU governing bodies announced that they had reached a deal on the most sweeping legislation to target Big Tech in Europe, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Seen as an ambitious law with far-reaching implications, the most eye-catching measure in the bill would require that every large tech company — defined as having a market capitalization of more than €75 billion and a user base of more than 45 million people in the EU — create products that are interoperable with smaller platforms. For messaging apps, that would mean letting end-to-end encrypted services like WhatsApp mingle with less secure protocols like SMS — which security experts worry will undermine hard-won gains in the field of message encryption.

The main focus of the DMA is a class of large tech companies termed “gatekeepers,” defined by the size of their audience or revenue and, by extension, the structural power they are able to wield against smaller competitors. Through the new regulations, the government is hoping to “break open” some of the services provided by such companies to allow smaller businesses to compete. That could mean letting users install third-party apps outside of the App Store, letting outside sellers rank higher in Amazon searches, or requiring messaging apps to send texts across multiple protocols.

Apple would be forced to allow users to install apps from outside the App Store under legislation recently unveiled by the EU. This stipulation was included in the initial proposal for the bloc’s sweeping Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which came one step closer to being signed into law this week, and an EU spokesperson confirmed that the provision is still included.

“We believe that the owner of a smartphone should have the freedom to choose how to use it,” said European Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke in an emailed statement. “This freedom includes being able to opt for alternative sources of apps on your smartphone. With the DMA, a smartphone owner would still be able to enjoy safe and secure services of the default app store on their smart phones. On top of that, if a user so chooses, the DMA would allow a smartphone owner to also opt for other safe app stores.”