Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The European Union defied US threats of retaliation Wednesday by accusing Google of violating its digital rules — which could trigger hefty fines — and ordering Apple to make its iPhone interact better with rivals’ devices. The moves risk opening up a new front in the already fraught relationship between the EU and President Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line against the bloc’s tech laws and warned he will hit back against any fines on American firms.
The European Union hit the tech titans with decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law that forces the world’s biggest digital companies to open up to competition in the 27-country EU, but it has faced strong criticism from its targets. Apple and Google responded that the EU risked European users’ security and its moves would hinder innovation.
The European Commission informed Google parent Alphabet in a “preliminary view” that its search engine treated its own services more favourably compared to rivals. It also, in a separate preliminary view, said the Google Play app store prevented developers from steering customers outside the store to access cheaper deals. “Both practices negatively impact many European and non-European businesses that rely on Google Search or Google Play to reach their users in the EU,” the bloc’s digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, said in a statement.
Google swiftly hit back, saying the EU’s decision “will hurt European businesses and consumers, hinder innovation, weaken security, and degrade product quality”. Google can now defend itself, but if the finding is confirmed, the law gives the EU the power to impose fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s total global turnover. This can rise to up to 20 percent for repeat offenders.
The commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, separately told Apple to enhance the compatibility of its iPhone with competitors’ products, including headphones and smartwatches. “Effective interoperability for third-party connected devices is an important step towards opening Apple’s ecosystem. This will lead to a better choice for consumers,” the EU’s competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
Apple has accused the EU of putting users’ security and privacy at risk with the law, but the commission has repeatedly rejected the claim. “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules,” Apple said. “It’s bad for our products and for our European users,” it added, stating that it would continue to share its concerns with the EU.
Apple has also faced scrutiny over its closed ecosystem in the United States as part of a wide-ranging monopoly case launched last year before Trump’s victory. US prosecutors accused Apple of making it hard for its users to interact easily with Android phone users and with rival smartwatches.
Apple and Facebook owner Meta faced similar accusations to Google last year, with expectations that they will be slapped with fines — although the EU has been wary following Trump’s description of the bloc’s penalties as a form of taxation. Trump went even further last month and said he would consider actions such as tariffs in response to digital services taxes, fines, and policies imposed on US firms.
Big Tech has cosied up to Trump since his victory in November. Billionaire and X platform owner Elon Musk is a key ally, while Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg in January called on Trump to act to defend American tech firms from EU penalties. The EU created the DMA law after years of fines against abusive Big Tech behaviour, establishing a list of do’s and don’ts that would avoid long competition probes.
© 2024 AFP
