The European Commission has published an official list of services offered by ‘gatekeepers’ that must comply with obligations under the new Digital Markets Act. Companies now have six months to comply with the rules.
Major messaging apps will have an obligation to make themselves interoperable with competitors
Government mandated fediverse lmao.
Seems like they’re thinking about RCS support. My experiences with RCS has been pure piece of hot horseshit.
It’s been decades since we got Email. I think we can do better.
RCS is fine IMO, just that the clients are complete and utter… ☺️ actually, something different would be nice.
And now the goverment forces them to be open source
Broadly, the DMA is the EU’s attempt to rein in the market power of Big Tech by opening up entrenched platforms and curbing ecosystem lock-in and anti-competitive behavior, making them compete on the merits of their products and services alone. Major messaging apps will have an obligation to make themselves interoperable with competitors, for example, while operating systems will need to be designed to offer third-party app stores and allow developers to offer alternative in-app payment options.
Good. At least there’s one significant regulatory body on this planet that understands how a capitalistic system is meant to be regulated. You don’t need something to be an actual, 100% monopoly before you take the kid gloves off and force them to cooperate with other businesses.
Full list of gatekeepers’ core platform services that must comply with the Digital Markets Act:
- Social Networks: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- N-IICS (aka messaging services): WhatsApp, Messenger
- Intermediation: Google Maps, Google Play, Google Shopping, Amazon Marketplace, Apple’s App Store, Meta Marketplace
- Video Sharing: YouTube
- Advertising services: Google, Amazon, Meta
- Web Browsers: Chrome, Safari
- Search: Google Search
- Operating Systems: Android, iOS, Windows
Google Shopping
is Google Shopping really used that much?
Google was forced to provide statistics on its user base and they wouldn’t have been listed if they wouldn’t get 10% of EU citizens to use their product at least once a month.
I can’t tell you in what countries Google Shopping is actually used, but its inclusion int he list says a lot.
I think it’s because you get Google Shopping results whenever you search for a product name or brand. They pushed their shop right front and center and now they’ll have to pay the price.
Yes. I guess you are using Google Shopping every time you make a Google search of a product, even though you don’t notice it.
If my suspicions are true then they’ve really messed up, there’s no way their accidental clicks are worth the difficulty of complying with DSA regulations.
I think the same may be true of Bing Search, I don’t think their user base is anywhere as large as they’re made out to be but every time you accidentally click a link in Windows you get forced into Edge and Bing. It’s not hard to cross the 45 million users threshold when everyone only needs to click one Microsoft link inside Windows once per month to count!
lets go! I like the sound of this! Windows will have to stop force-feeding bing, edge, 365, and all their garbage!
Microsoft has already announced that it will alter Windows 11 to open links in the default browser rather than in Edge. Not even a day has passed since this has gone into effect and the results are already promising!
Of course Microsoft will only bring this change to European computers, but other countries are free to make their own antitrust laws if they want to accomplish this too.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The European Commission has officially confirmed which tech companies, and which of their services, count as “gatekeepers” under its strict new Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Broadly, the DMA is the EU’s attempt to rein in the market power of Big Tech by opening up entrenched platforms and curbing ecosystem lock-in and anti-competitive behavior, making them compete on the merits of their products and services alone.
Samsung, which appeared on the previous list, successfully argued that it does not meet the threshold for being a gatekeeper with its internet browser.
Likewise Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Edge browser, and advertising service are not on the list, but the Commission says it’s opening market investigations to assess whether they meet the bar for regulation.
The Commission has said these investigation will take no more than five months, but could result in Apple being forced to make iMessage interoperable with competing services upon request.
Meanwhile the likes of Google Search (and Bing, if it ends up being included) will have to give their users a choice of other search engines, while operating system providers will need to offer the ability to uninstall pre-installed apps and change system defaults like virtual assistants and web browsers.
The original article contains 604 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Bing dodged a bullet
Wait, where’s iMessage? That’s like one of the most popular messaging apps lmao
Not in Europe
I guess, but not too far behind relative to smaller messaging services right, seeing as Apple has 26% of the smartphone market share in the EU? And shouldn’t their global reach be at least somewhat considered? Seems like regulation aimed to allow smaller businesses to gain market share is letting one of the biggest companies in the world slip through.
26% means that you cannot use it to talk to 74% of your friends. So European users usually use a service that runs equally well on iOS and Android.
Right, but my point was more that since a quarter of the EU uses iPhone they have iMessage by default, which could then quickly increase their userbase to a top competitor if they’re able to increase their EU smartphone market share.
People in EU use mostly WhatsApp and Messenger, cuz most people don’t have iPhones
Really? I thought apple is a trillion dollar company because of europeans but guess its americans giving apple all their money lol
they have 5 months to prove that it’s not a gatekeeping service, if they cannot do that then it will be added to the list. the list gets updated every 6 months.
Best time to be in Europe. I am applying for my Swiss visa.
Switzerland isn’t part of the European Union, only the Schengen zone. So company’s won’t have to decide by these laws in Switzerland
We might only hope this regulatory body has more teeth than their Amerikan counterparts. Otherwise, these megacorps will just pay the fine-- which will no doubt be seen as little more than “the cost of ‘doing business’” for them.
"What will be the consequences of non-compliance?
Fines: of up to 10% of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover, or up to 20% in the event of repeated infringements"
it’s a tough pill to swallow.
Microsoft had an annual turnover of 212 billion USD in 2023, so a 10% fine of that would be 21,2 billion dollars. Yeah I think they’d rather comply
Really looking forward to seeing what the actual demands end up being.
if you mean demands of eu then they’re all clear:
I have no idea if this is going to trickle back and benefit America at all
Nothing trickles in the US except our river deltas
Hope for MacOS not make the list? It’s probably the most gate kept thing that exists
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Yes how, sorry I use Swype and I’m a moron. They are compounding issues
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