The European Commission has accused Google and Apple of breaking digital rules with groundbreaking actions that could escalate Donald Trump and transatlantic tensions.
The US president tried to put pressure on the EU to move away from stricter regulations on American tech groups, and he tried to warn him You can retaliate by imposing tariffs on foreign companies.
However, on Wednesday, the committee pushed for enforcement action against Alphabet, the parent company of Apple and Google. It was two companies, two of the five companies in the world by their stock market value, accusing them of defeating the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).
A company could be fined 10% of its revenue for a DMA violation. Based on Apple's 2024 revenue of $3910 billion (£30.1 billion), the maximum fine will be nearly $800 billion.
The committee said Google's search engine took a “preliminary view” that it prioritized the outcomes referring to Alphabet's own services against rival services and violated the requirements for handling third-party services in a “transparent, fair, non-discriminatory” way.
Its App Store, Google Play, also said it would prevent developers from steering consumers into other channels where better offers could be made available.
The committee told Apple it must make its operating system available on devices created by competitors, such as smartphones and wireless headphones, or it faces prospects for investigations and fines.
The order is designed to encourage competition by allowing rival technology manufacturers to connect to Apple devices such as iPads and iPhones.
The EU issued a second order to Apple, laying out a detailed timeline and methodology on how Apple responds to requests from app developers to open the system.
An Apple spokesperson said: “Today's decision will wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple's ability to innovate European users, and force them to offer new features to businesses that don't need to play with the same rules.”
The company added: “It's bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand their concerns on behalf of our users.”
Oliver Bethell, senior director of competition at Google, wrote in BlogPost: “The committee findings need to further change how certain types of search results are displayed.
After the newsletter promotion
He said he cannot invest in an open platform if he cannot charge a reasonable fee to support the ongoing development of Android and Play Services.
Teresa Ribera, chief of EU competition, said the block “simply enforces the law and provides regulatory certainty for both Apple and developers.”
It will be six months after Brussels launched a lawsuit designed to ensure Apple is DMA compliant.
The EU is also investigating the parent Meta of Facebook and Instagram, under which it pays monthly fees for an ad-free version of social media platforms that do not use personal data for advertising purposes.
Trump shows that regulatory measures against US businesses will factor his decision to impose tariffs on foreign goods. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance opposed excessive AI regulations, responsibly for the EU's fundamental artificial intelligence law.
The US also opposed the UK's digital services tax plan amid regular attacks by Elon Musk, the owner of X at British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer. Vance also attacked the UK's online safety laws, claiming last month that freedom of speech is “retreating.” However, the UK government has asserted that the law is not a negotiation tip in negotiations between the Trump administration and the UK over tariffs.
