Earlier in the week, Germany’s defence ministry and foreign ministry said they were suspending their activity on X, with the defence ministry saying it had become increasingly “unhappy” with the platform.
When asked if the expanded probe was a response to a discussion Musk conducted last week with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, in which she was given free rein to promote her party’s platform and make false claims about Adolf Hitler, a Commission spokesperson said the new request helped “us monitor systems around all these events taking place.”
However, he said it was “completely independent of any political considerations or any specific events.”
“We are committed to ensuring that every platform operating in the EU respects our legislation, which aims to make the online environment fair, safe, and democratic for all European citizens,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s digital chief.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Commission had been under recent political pressure to be tough on Musk’s X ahead of the Weidel interview.
Last week Damian Boeselager, member of the European parliament, wrote to Virkkunnen to demand a probe into whether the social media platform’s use of algorithms met the EU’s transparency requirements.
“There are allegations that Musk is boosting his own tweets,” Boeselager told the Financial Times last week. “The guy can be crazy but it is unfair if he’s amplifying who must listen to him.”
This story was updated shortly after publication with additional details.
The most significant impact this USB-C requirement has had so far is on Apple, which, while initially resisting, has gradually shifted its products from its proprietary Lightning connector to USB-C. Its latest iMac comes with a Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad that all connect via USB-C. The firm stopped selling the Lightning-charging iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in the EU after December 28.
People who understand electrical terminology, and live in an EU member country, will soon have a better understanding of how many more cables they’ll need to buy for their newest gadget.
Credit: European Commission
People who understand electrical terminology, and live in an EU member country, will soon have a better understanding of how many more cables they’ll need to buy for their newest gadget. Credit: European Commission
In addition to simply demanding that a USB-C port be present, the Directive requires that anything with “fast charging”—pulling more than 5 volts, 3 amperes, or 15 watts—enable the USB Power Delivery (USB PD) standard. This should ensure that they properly negotiate charging rates with any charger with USB PD rather than require their own proprietary charging brick or adapter.
In Europe, devices must indicate on their product boxes whether they contain a charging plug or mid-cord brick. A different label will indicate the minimum and maximum power that a device requires to charge and whether it can support USB PD or not.
Can the EU make cables and cords get along?
The EU’s celebratory post on X is heavy with replies from doubters, suggesting that mandating USB-C as “THE charger” could stifle companies innovating on other means of power delivery. Most of these critiques are addressed in the actual text of the law, because more powerful devices are exempted, secondary power plugs are allowed, and wireless largely gets a pass. “What about when USB-D arrives?” is something no person can really answer, though it seems a vague reason to avoid addressing the e-waste, fragmentation, and consumer confusion of the larger device charging ecosystem.
How the Common Charger Directive will be enforced is yet to be seen, as that is something left up to member nations. Also unproven is whether companies will comply with it across their international product lines or simply make specific EU-compliant products.
During her tenure, Vestager has repeatedly targeted the world’s biggest tech companies, with some of the toughest actions against tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
The EU Commission on Thursday said Meta is “dominant in the market for personal social networks (…) as well as in the national markets for online display advertising on social media.”
Facebook Marketplace, launched in 2016, is a popular platform to buy and sell second-hand goods, especially household items such as furniture.
Meta has argued that it operates in a highly competitive environment. In a post published on Thursday, the tech giant said marketplaces in Europe continue “to grow and dominate in the EU,” pointing to platforms such as eBay, Leboncoin in France, and Marktplaats in the Netherlands, as “formidable competitors.”
Meta’s fine comes at a period of political transition both in the EU and the US.
Brussels officials have been aggressive both in their rhetoric and their antitrust probes against Big Tech giants as they sought to open markets for local start-ups.
In the past five years, EU regulators have also passed a landmark piece of legislation—the Digital Markets Act—with the aim to slow down dominant tech players and boost the local tech industry.
However, some observers expect the new commission, which is set to start a new 5-year term in weeks, to strike a more conciliatory tone over fears of retaliation from the incoming Trump administration.
If the past five years of EU tech rules could take human form, they would embody Thierry Breton. The bombastic commissioner, with his swoop of white hair, became the public face of Brussels’ irritation with American tech giants, touring Silicon Valley last summer to personally remind the industry of looming regulatory deadlines.
Combative and outspoken, Breton warned that Apple had spent too long “squeezing” other companies out of the market. In a case against TikTok, he emphasized, “our children are not guinea pigs for social media.”
His confrontational attitude to the CEOs themselves was visible in his posts on X. In the lead-up to Musk’s interview with Donald Trump, Breton posted a vague but threatening letter on his account reminding Musk there would be consequences if he used his platform to amplify “harmful content.” Last year, he published a photo with Mark Zuckerberg, declaring a new EU motto of “move fast to fix things”—a jibe at the notorious early Facebook slogan. And in a 2023 meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Breton reportedly got him to agree to an “AI pact” on the spot, before tweeting the agreement, making it difficult for Pichai to back out.
Yet in this week’s reshuffle of top EU jobs, Breton resigned—a decision he alleged was due to backroom dealing between EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron.
“I’m sure [the tech giants are] happy Mr. Breton will go, because he understood you have to hit shareholders’ pockets when it comes to fines,” says Umberto Gambini, a former adviser at the EU Parliament and now a partner at consultancy Forward Global.
Breton is to be effectively replaced by the Finnish politician Henna Virkkunen, from the center-right EPP Group, who has previously worked on the Digital Services Act.
“Her style will surely be less brutal and maybe less visible on X than Breton,” says Gambini. “It could be an opportunity to restart and reboot the relations.”
Little is known about Virkkunen’s attitude to Big Tech’s role in Europe’s economy. But her role has been reshaped to fit von der Leyen’s priorities for her next five-year term. While Breton was the commissioner for the internal market, Virkkunen will work with the same team but operate under the upgraded title of executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, meaning she reports directly to von der Leyen.
The 27 commissioners, who form von der Leyen’s new team and are each tasked with a different area of focus, still have to be approved by the European Parliament—a process that could take weeks.
“[Previously], it was very, very clear that the commission was ambitious when it came to thinking about and proposing new legislation to counter all these different threats that they had perceived, especially those posed by big technology platforms,” says Mathias Vermeulen, public policy director at Brussels-based consultancy AWO. “That is not a political priority anymore, in the sense that legislation has been adopted and now has to be enforced.”
Instead Virkkunen’s title implies the focus has shifted to technology’s role in European security and the bloc’s dependency on other countries for critical technologies like chips. “There’s this realization that you now need somebody who can really connect the dots between geopolitics, security policy, industrial policy, and then the enforcement of all the digital laws,” he adds. Earlier in September, a much anticipated report by economist and former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi warned that Europe would risk becoming “vulnerable to coercion” on the world stage if it did not jump-start growth. “We must have more secure supply chains for critical raw materials and technologies,” he said.
Vestager—who vied with Breton for the reputation of lead digital enforcer (technically she was his superior)—will now be replaced by the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera, whose role will encompass competition as well as Europe’s green transition. Her official title will be executive vice-president-designate for a clean, just and competitive transition, making it likely Big Tech will slip down the list of priorities. “[Ribera’s] most immediate political priority is really about setting up this clean industrial deal,” says Vermuelen.
Political priorities might be shifting, but the frenzy of new rules introduced over the past five years will still need to be enforced. There is an ongoing legal battle over Google’s $1.7 billion antitrust fine. Apple, Google, and Meta are under investigation for breaches of the Digital Markets Act. Under the Digital Services Act, TikTok, Meta, AliExpress, as well as Elon Musk’s X are also subject to probes. “It is too soon for Elon Musk to breathe a sigh of relief,” says J. Scott Marcus, senior fellow at think tank Bruegel. He claims that Musk’s alleged practices at X are likely to run afoul of the Digital Services Act (DSA) no matter who the commissioner is.
“The tone of the confrontation might become a bit more civil, but the issues are unlikely to go away.”
Enlarge/ Artist’s conception of Epic dodging harm from Apple’s decisions (and perhaps its own).
It’s been four years since Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular games, was pulled from the Apple App Store in a blaze of controversy and finger-pointing. Today, it’s returning to the iPhone—but only in the European Union.
Today marks the launch of the Epic Games Store on Android and iOS—iOS just in Europe, Android worldwide. Right now, it just has three games: Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and Fall Guys. And you’ll have to be in Europe to access it on your iPhone.
The Epic Games Store is run by Epic Games, the same company that develops and publishes Fortnite. Most folks who have been paying attention to either Epic or Apple in recent years knows the story at this point, but here’s the quick summary and analysis.
Opinion: Users are still the losers after four years
At the direction of CEO Tim Sweeney, Epic knowingly made changes to Fortnite related to digital payments that violated Apple’s terms for developers on the platform. Apple removed Fortnite accordingly, and a long, ugly PR and legal battle ensued between the two companies in multiple countries and regions.
In the US, a judge’s decision granted some small wins to Epic and other developers seeking to loosen Apple’s grip on the platform, but it kept the status quo for the most part.
Things went a little differently in Europe. EU legislators and regulators enacted the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which had far-reaching implications for how Apple and Google run their app stores. Among other things, the new law required Apple to allow third-party, alternative app stores (basically, sideloading) on the iPhone.
Apple’s compliance was far from enthusiastic (the company cited security and privacy concerns for users, which is valid, but the elephant in the room is, of course, its confident grip on app revenues on its platforms), and it was criticized for trying to put up barriers. Additionally, Apple rejected Epic’s attempts to launch its app store multiple times for a few arcane reasons amid a flurry of almost comically over-the-top tweets from Sweeney criticizing the company.
Despite Apple’s foot-dragging, Epic has finally reached the point where it could launch its app store. Epic had already launched a relatively successful App Store on PC, where Valve’s Steam holds a strong grip on users. The new iPhone app store doesn’t offer nearly as many options or perks as the PC version, but Epic says it’s working on wrangling developers onto its store.
It also says it will release its games on other alternative app stores on iOS and Android, such as AltStore PAL.
It’s been a long, winding, angry path to get to this point. In the battle between Epic and Apple, there remains some debate about who really has won up to this point. But there isn’t much dispute that, whether you want to blame Apple or Epic or both, users sure haven’t been the winners.
Enlarge/ Features like Image Playground won’t arrive in Europe at the same time as other regions.
Apple
Three major features in iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia will not be available to European users this fall, Apple says. They include iPhone screen mirroring on the Mac, SharePlay screen sharing, and the entire Apple Intelligence suite of generative AI features.
In a statement sent to Financial Times, The Verge, and others, Apple says this decision is related to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Here’s the full statement, which was attributed to Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz:
Two weeks ago, Apple unveiled hundreds of new features that we are excited to bring to our users around the world. We are highly motivated to make these technologies accessible to all users. However, due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these features — iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence — to our EU users this year.
Specifically, we are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security. We are committed to collaborating with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution that would enable us to deliver these features to our EU customers without compromising their safety.
It is unclear from Apple’s statement precisely which aspects of the DMA may have led to this decision. It could be that Apple is concerned that it would be required to give competitors like Microsoft or Google access to user data collected for Apple Intelligence features and beyond, but we’re not sure.
This is not the first recent and major divergence between functionality and features for Apple devices in the EU versus other regions. Because of EU regulations, Apple opened up iOS to third-party app stores in Europe, but not in other regions. However, critics argued its compliance with that requirement was lukewarm at best, as it came with a set of restrictions and changes to how app developers could monetize their apps on the platform should they use those other storefronts.
While Apple says in the statement it’s open to finding a solution, no timeline is given. All we know is that the features won’t be available on devices in the EU this year. They’re expected to launch in other regions in the fall.
Brussels has opened an in-depth probe into Meta over concerns it is failing to do enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms such as Instagram.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced on Thursday it would look into whether the Silicon Valley giant’s apps were reinforcing “rabbit hole” effects, where users get drawn ever deeper into online feeds and topics.
EU investigators will also look into whether Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is complying with legal obligations to provide appropriate age-verification tools to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.
The probe is the second into the company under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The landmark legislation is designed to police content online, with sweeping new rules on the protection of minors.
It also has mechanisms to force Internet platforms to reveal how they are tackling misinformation and propaganda.
The DSA, which was approved last year, imposes new obligations on very large online platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU. If Meta is found to have broken the law, Brussels can impose fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s global annual turnover.
Repeat offenders can even face bans in the single market as an extreme measure to enforce the rules.
Thierry Breton, commissioner for internal market, said the EU was “not convinced” that Meta “has done enough to comply with the DSA obligations to mitigate the risks of negative effects to the physical and mental health of young Europeans on its platforms Facebook and Instagram.”
“We are sparing no effort to protect our children,” Breton added.
Meta said: “We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission.”
In the investigation, the commission said it would focus on whether Meta’s platforms were putting in place “appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security for minors.” It added that it was placing special emphasis on default privacy settings for children.
Brussels is especially concerned whether the social media company’s platforms are properly moderating content from Russian sources that may try to destabilize upcoming elections across Europe.
Meta defended its moderating practices and said it had appropriate systems in place to stop the spread of disinformation on its platforms.
Brussels is set to issue new antitrust charges against Microsoft over concerns that the software giant is undermining rivals to its videoconferencing app Teams.
According to three people with knowledge of the move, the European Commission is pressing ahead with a formal charge sheet against the world’s most valuable listed tech company over concerns it is restricting competition in the sector.
Microsoft last month offered concessions as it sought to avoid regulatory action, including extending a plan to unbundle Teams from other software such as Office, not just in Europe but across the world.
However, people familiar with their thinking said EU officials were still concerned that the company did not go far enough to facilitate fairness in the market.
Rivals are concerned that Microsoft will make Teams run more compatibly than rival apps with its own software. Another concern is the lack of data portability, which makes it difficult for existing Teams users to switch to alternatives.
The commission’s move would represent an escalation of a case that dates back to 2020 after Slack, now owned by Salesforce, submitted a formal complaint over Microsoft’s Teams.
It also would end a decade-long truce between EU regulators and the US tech company, after a series of competition probes that ended in 2013. The EU then issued a 561 million euro fine against Microsoft for failure to comply with a decision over the bundling of the Internet Explorer browser with its Windows operating system.
Charges could come in the next few weeks, said the people familiar with the commission’s thinking. Rivals of Microsoft and the commission are meeting this week to discuss the case, in an indication that the charges are being prepared, the people said.
However, they warned that Microsoft could still offer last-minute concessions that would derail the EU’s case, or the commission might decide to delay or scrap the charges against the company.
Microsoft risks fines of up to 10 percent of its global annual turnover if found to have breached the EU competition law.
The company declined to comment but referred to an earlier statement that said it would “continue to engage with the commission, listen to concerns in the marketplace, and remain open to exploring pragmatic solutions that benefit both customers and developers in Europe.”
The commission declined to comment.
The move against Microsoft comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of its activities. The EU is also investigating whether the tech group’s $13 billion alliance with ChatGPT maker OpenAI breaks competition law.
Microsoft is also part of a handful of tech companies, including Google and Meta, caught as “gatekeepers” under the new Digital Markets Act, meaning it has special responsibilities when trading in Europe.
The tech company has also faced complaints from European cloud computing providers that are concerned that Microsoft is abusing its dominant position in the sector to force users to buy its products and squashing competition from smaller start-ups in Europe.
Starting in March with the release of iOS 17.4, iPhones in the European Union have been subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a batch of regulations that (among other things) forced Apple to support alternate app stores, app sideloading, and third-party browser engines in iOS for the first time. Today, EU regulators announced that they are also categorizing Apple’s iPadOS as a “gatekeeper,” meaning that the iPad will soon be subject to the same regulations as the iPhone.
The EU began investigating whether iPadOS would qualify as a gatekeeper in September 2023, the same day it decided that iOS, the Safari browser, and the App Store were all gatekeepers.
“Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance of iPadOS with the DMA obligations,” reads the EU’s blog post about the change.
Apple technically split the iPad’s operating system from the iPhone’s in 2019 when it began calling its tablet operating system “iPadOS” instead of iOS. But practically speaking, little separates the two operating systems under the hood. Both iOS and iPadOS share the same software build numbers, they’re updated in lockstep (with rare exceptions), and most importantly for DMA compliance purposes, they pull software from the same locked-down App Store with the same Apple-imposed restrictions in place.
Apps distributed through alternate app stores or third-party websites will have to abide by many of Apple’s rules and will still generally be limited to using Apple’s public APIs. However, the ability to use alternate app stores and browser engines on the iPad’s large screen (and the desktop-class M-series chips) could make the tablets better laptop replacements by allowing them to do more of the things that Mac users can do on their systems.
Though Apple has made multiple changes to iOS in the EU to comply with the DMA, EU regulators are already investigating Apple (as well as Google and Meta) for “non-compliance.” Depending on the results of that investigation, the EU may require Apple to make more changes to the way it allows third-party apps to be installed in iOS and to the way that third-party developers are allowed to advertise non-Apple app store and payment options. Any changes that Apple makes to iOS to comply with the investigation’s findings will presumably trickle down to the iPad as well.
Of course, none of this directly affects US-based iPhone or iPad users, whose devices remain restricted to Apple’s app stores and the WebKit browsing engine. That said, we have seen some recent App Store rule changes that have arguably trickled down from Apple’s attempts to comply with the DMA, most notably policy changes that have allowed (some, not all) retro game console emulators into the App Store for the first time.
Enlarge/ Artist’s conception of Apple attempting to dodge the concerns of EU regulators.
Epic Games
European Union regulators are investigating whether Apple’s recent revocation of an Epic Games iOS developer account puts the iPhone-maker in violation of the Digital Markets Act and other rules in the continent. If Apple is found in violation, the European Commission could impose significant fines as part of its effort to put some force behind its sweeping tech regulations.
“We have requested further explanations on this from Apple under the DMA (Digital Markets Act),” a European Commission spokesperson told Reuters late Thursday. “We are also evaluating whether Apple’s actions [regarding Epic Games] raise doubts on their compliance with the DSA (Digital Services Act) and the P2B (Platform to Business Regulation), given the links between the developer program membership and the App store as designated VLOP (very large online platform).”
The Digital Services Act, which went into effect in Europe last year, is mainly focused on transparency in algorithmic recommendations and “systemic risks” in platforms promoting misinformation. But the act also stipulates that platform moderation, including account suspension or termination, must be enforced “in a diligent, objective, and proportionate manner (emphasis added).” Whether Epic’s apparently indefinite ban from iOS development fits that proportionality standard is something the EU is seemingly interested in investigating.
The EU’s platform-to-business trading regulations, meanwhile, require major platforms like Apple to meet certain guidelines for transparency in their communications with other businesses. That includes detailed instructions for “specific preliminary steps” that have to be taken before a large platform terminates a business account.
“Listen, you need to be able to carry another app store…”
Earlier this week, the European Commission imposed a significant $2 billion fine on Apple over the company’s treatment of competing music subscription services on its devices. That penalty, which Apple is appealing, could be seen as a sign that European regulators plan to enforce violations of their major tech regulations with more than a slap on the wrist. The available penalties for DMA violations can run up to “10 percent of the company’s total worldwide turnover” for a first offense.
“The fine is there to punish past behavior and of course to be a deterrent for it not to be repeated,” European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager told Bloomberg TV Tuesday. “We have the DMA coming into compliance [Thursday], so the demand of compliance is… listen, you need to be able to carry another app store, for instance, and you cannot put in place a fee structure that sort of disables the benefits of the DMA for all the market participants…”
In a statement Wednesday Apple cited “Epic’s egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple” in its decision to rescind Epic’s Swedish iOS developer account. Apple also cited US legal cases establishing its “right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.'”
Epic says it has provided a “good faith” promise to abide by Apple’s terms for creating a competing App Store in the EU and that it is being punished for criticizing the iPhone maker publicly. “Apple is retaliating against Epic for speaking out against Apple’s unfair and illegal practices, just as they’ve done to other developers time and time again,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Enlarge/ EU legislation has pushed a number of changes previously thought unthinkable in Apple products, including USB-C ports in iPhones sold in Europe.
Getty Images
Apple has changed its stance on allowing web apps on iPhones and iPads in Europe and will continue to let users put them on their home screens after iOS 17.4 arrives. They will, however, have to be “built directly on WebKit and its security architecture,” rather than running in alternative browsers, which is how it had worked up until new legislation forced the issue.
After the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) demanded Apple open up its mobile devices to alternative browser engines, the company said it would remove the ability to install home screen web apps entirely. In a developer Q&A section, under the heading “Why don’t users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?”, Apple said that “the complex security and privacy concerns” of non-native web apps and what addressing them would require “given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps,” made it so that the company “had to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU.” Any web app installed on a user’s home screen would have simply led them back to their preferred web browser.
Apple further warned against “malicious web apps,” which, without the isolation built into its WebKit system, could read data, steal permissions from other web apps, and install further web apps without permission, among other concerns.
That response prompted an inquiry by the European Commission officials, who asked Apple and app developers about the impact of a potential removal of home screen web apps. It also prompted a survey conducted by the Open Web Advocacy group. Apple has until March 6 to comply with the DMA. Apple’s move to block web apps entirely suggested that allowing web apps powered by Safari, but not other browser engines, might violate the DMA’s rules. Now, some aspect of that cautious approach has changed.
Under an updated version of that section heading, Apple reiterates its security and privacy concerns and the need to “build new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS.” But because of requests to continue web app offerings, “we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen capability in the EU,” Apple writes.
The long, weird road to where web apps are now
Apple has long offered web apps (or Progressive Web Apps) that opened as a separate application rather than in a browser tab. Web apps installed this way offer greater persistence and access to device features, like notifications, cameras, or file storage. Web apps were initially touted by Apple co-founder and then-CEO Steve Jobs as “everything you need” to write “amazing apps” rather than dedicated apps with their own SDK. Four months later, an iPhone SDK was announced, and Apple declared its enthusiastic desire for “native third-party applications on the iPhone.”
While Apple does not break out App Store revenues in its earning statements, its Services division recorded an all-time high of $22.3 billion in the company’s fourth quarter of 2023, including “all time revenue records” across the App Store and other offerings.
As part of its DMA compliance as a “gatekeeper” of certain systems, Apple must also allow for sideloading for EU customers, or allowing the installation of iOS apps from stores other than its own official App Store. This week, more than two dozen companies signed a letter to the Commission lamenting Apple’s implementation of App Store rules. Developers seeking to utilize alternative app stores will have to agree to terms that include a “Core Technology Fee,” demanding a 0.50 euro fee for each app, each year, after 1 million downloads. “Few app developers will agree to these unjust terms,” the letter claims, and will thereby further “Apple’s exploitation of its dominance over app developers.”
In a statement provided to Ars, Apple said that its “approach to the Digital Markets Act was guided by two simple goals: complying with the law and reducing the inevitable, increased risks the DMA creates for our EU users.” It noted that Apple employees “spent months in conversation with the European Commission,” and had “in little more than a year, created more than 600 new APIs and a wide range of developer tools.” Still, Apple said, the changes and safeguards it put in place can’t entirely “eliminate new threats the DMA creates,” and the changes “will result in a less secure system.”
That is why, Apple said, it is limiting third-party browser engines, app stores, and other DMA changes to the European Union. “[W]e’re concerned about their impacts on the privacy and security of our users’ experience—which remains our North Star.”
To comply with looming rules that ban tech giants from favoring their own services, Google has been testing new look search results for flights, trains, hotels, restaurants, and products in Europe. The EU’s Digital Markets Act is supposed to help smaller companies get more traffic from Google, but reviews service Yelp says that when it tested Google’s design tweaks with consumers it had the opposite effect—making people less likely to click through to Yelp or another Google competitor.
The results, which Yelp shared with European regulators in December and WIRED this month, put some numerical backing behind complaints from Google rivals in travel, shopping, and hospitality that its efforts to comply with the DMA are insufficient—and potentially more harmful than the status quo. Yelp and thousands of others have been demanding that the EU hold a firm line against the giant companies including Apple and Amazon that are subject to what’s widely considered the world’s strictest antitrust law, violations of which can draw fines of up to 10 percent of global annual sales.
“All the gatekeepers are trying to hold on as long as possible to the status quo and make the new world unattractive,” says Richard Stables, CEO of shopping comparison site Kelkoo, which is unhappy with how Google has tweaked shopping results to comply with the DMA. “That’s really the game plan.”
Google spokesperson Rory O’Donoghue says the more than 20 changes made to search in response to the DMA are providing more opportunities for services such as Yelp to show up in results. “To suggest otherwise is plain wrong,” he says. Overall, Google’s tests of various DMA-inspired designs show clicks to review and comparison websites are up, O’Donoghue says—at the cost of users losing shortcuts to Google tools and individual businesses like airlines and restaurants facing a drop in visits from Google search. “We’ve been seeking feedback from a range of stakeholders over many months as we try to balance the needs of different types of websites while complying with the law,” he says.
Google, which generates 30 percent of its sales from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, views the DMA as disrespecting its expertise in what users want. Critics such as Yelp argue that Google sometimes siphons users away from the more reliable content they offer. Yelp competes with Google for advertisers but generated less than 1 percent of its record sales of $1.3 billion last year from outside the US. An increase in European traffic could significantly boost its business.
To study search changes, Yelp worked with user-research company Lyssna to watch how hundreds of consumers from around the world interacted with Google’s new EU search results page when asked to find a dinner spot in Paris. For searches like that or for other “local” businesses, as Google calls them, one new design features results from Google Maps data at the top of the page below the search bar but adds a new box widget lower down containing images from and links to reviews websites like Yelp.
The experiments found that about 73 percent of about 500 people using that new design clicked results that kept them inside Google’s ecosystem—an increase over the 55 percent who did so when the design Google is phasing out in Europe was tested with a smaller pool of roughly 250 people.
Yelp also tested a variation of the new design. In this version, which Google has shared with regulators, the new box featuring review websites is placed above the maps widget. It was more successful in drawing people to try alternatives to Google, with only about 44 percent of consumers in the experiment sticking with the search giant. Though the box and widget will be treated equally by Google’s search algorithms, the order the features appear in will vary based on those calculations. Yelp’s concern is that Google will win out too often.
Yelp proposed to EU regulators that to produce more fair outcomes, Google should instead amend the map widget on results pages to include business listings and ratings from numerous providers, placing data from Google’s directory right alongside Yelp and others.
Companies such as Yelp that are critical of the changes in testing have called on the European Commission to immediately open an investigation into Google on March 7, when enforcement of the DMA begins.
“Yelp urges regulators to compel Google to fully comply with both the letter and spirit of the DMA,” says Yelp’s vice president of public policy, David Segal. “Google will soon be in violation of both, because if you look at what Google has put forth, it’s pretty clear that its services still have the best real estate.”
