The European Union is stepping on the necks of Apple, Meta and Google. Billions are at stake

The European Union is once again at war with the technological giants, and this time astronomical fines are at stake. In Europe, the Digital Markets Regulation came into force in March, which the EU says aims to ensure “a competitive and fair digital sector and enable the development of innovative digital businesses and ensure the safety of online users”.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED: EU regulation breaks iPhone security. Malicious programs get into the mobile more easily

For companies, this primarily means that they should not behave like an oligopoly, let alone a monopoly, and should allow competing companies and their products to compete fairly. But according to the European Commission, this is not happening. It was reported by the AP agency.

As part of the EU regulation, it primarily monitors the behavior of six so-called gatekeepers. Specifically, these are five American companies (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft) and also the Chinese ByteDance, which is the most valuable company in the world among those not yet traded on the stock exchange. She is known to the general public mainly because she is behind the controversial social network TikTok.

What’s changing for users?

The EU regulation is intended to ensure that the mentioned players do not abuse their privileged positions on the market. For users, this means that they should have an easier option, for example, to change their native Internet browser or to search for computer and mobile applications outside of the main stores such as the App Store or Google Play.

The regulation thus essentially encourages gatekeepers to also launch third-party app stores that are now in development. Users will also be able to more easily change and delete the original apps on the phone, some of which are currently essentially unremovable.

But according to the EU, tech giants continue to favor their own products because fees and other restrictions limit competition. The European Commission therefore launched an investigation with Meta, Apple and Google.

What is at risk for companies?

It certainly cannot be said that the current procedure is just a slap in the face for companies that they are not very interested in. According to Politico, the European Commission threatens really gigantic fines. If it turns out that companies are breaking the rules, they will have to pay a penalty of ten percent of their annual turnover. In case of repeated violations, it will be 20 percent.

To illustrate – Apple had a turnover of 386 billion dollars last year. In case of violation of the rules, the company would have to cut tens of billions of dollars from the treasury.

It would mean another hard blow for the aforementioned Californian giant. Apple is being sued by countries all over the world for various violations. Most recently, the US Department of Justice joined in, accusing the company of abusing its monopoly position.

VIDEO: Presentation of glasses from Apple