Facebook, Google Chrome, the App Store… So many platforms which are affected by the new regulation on digital markets (DMA) which comes into force this Wednesday March 6. On this date, tech giants – also called “gatekeepers” in European Union legal jargon – will have to comply with these draconian rules established by the EU.
Designated at the beginning of September by the European Commission, the DMA targets are six in number: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft on the American side, and ByteDance, owner of TikTok, on the Chinese side. The objective: to open the platforms, owned by these companies, to competition.
Thus, since the beginning of the year, the groups concerned have multiplied the announcements to comply with the rules. Some changes have already been made and are beneficial to consumers. Starting with the unprecedented opening to iPhones of stores other than its App Store, announced by Apple – reluctantly – in January. The Apple brand is particularly hostile to the DMA, having built its success on a closed ecosystem of which it controls all the parameters.
User Consent
For its part, Google is now prohibited from exploiting the quasi-monopoly of its search engine to better reference its own services, like the Google Shopping price comparator. The American giant has thus promised to overhaul its online search results pages, to better highlight links to competing sites.
Alternatives must also be offered to consumers with the opening of an automatic menu to configure their default application. Same thing for browsers. In addition, European users can now see banners asking them if they wish to authorize the transfer of their personal data between the group’s different services, such as the YouTube video platform and the Chrome browser.
Finally, separating your Messenger instant messaging from your private Facebook account will be possible, Meta having announced at the beginning of the year that it would allow European users to create two separate accounts if they want to avoid the two being linked.
Access to Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Gaming without using primary account information will also be made easier. For good reason, the digital giants will have to obtain the consent of users when they wish to cross-reference data collected through different services to profile them for advertising targeting purposes.
Severe fines
The French government website indicates that ultimately, the giants will have to make unsubscribing as easy as subscribing to an essential platform service, but also make it easier to uninstall applications pre-installed on your phone, computer or laptop. Tablet. In this sense, Microsoft has affirmed that it will allow European users of its Windows operating system to uninstall its Edge browser.
However, although they are preparing to comply with the new regulations, Meta, Apple and ByteDance have initiated procedures to challenge it before European justice. Particularly because this legislation will prove very costly for businesses in the event of non-compliance.
If traditional competition rules provide for fines of up to 10% of global turnover, the DMA includes sanctions of up to 20% in the event of repeat offenses. “If the solutions proposed are not good enough, we will not hesitate to take strong measures,” promised the Digital Commissioner, Thierry Breton, the guardian of the new regulation.