EU's Digital Markets Act: Regulating Tech Giants' Dominance

The EU aims to curb tech giants' dominance with the Digital Markets Act, enforcing fair competition and consumer choice.

### The EU's Digital Markets Act: Aiming to Reshape Tech Giant Dominance
* 📜 The EU is attempting to **curb the dominance of tech giants** through the enforcement of the **Digital Markets Act (DMA)**, which began in **March this year**.
* 💡 This groundbreaking legislation aims to **enhance consumer choice** and create a **more favorable environment for European start-ups**.
* 🚫 The DMA prohibits anti-competitive behaviors, such as tech giants **favoring their own products over competitors** on their platforms.
* 🏛 The law targets "**gatekeepers**," defined as platforms with a market cap exceeding **€75bn**, over **45 million active monthly users** in the EU, and an annual turnover above **€7.5bn**, with seven companies currently designated as such.
* ⚖ Companies found in breach of the DMA, like Apple and Meta, face severe penalties, including **fines of up to 20% of their total worldwide annual turnover** for repeated violations.
* 🔨 The act has already prompted changes, such as Apple allowing **alternative app stores** and Google modifying its search results to **promote rival services**.
* ⚠ However, there are concerns that the DMA may limit consumer choice, as evidenced by Meta's delayed launch of its service Threads in the EU due to **"regulatory uncertainty."**
* 💣 The effectiveness of the DMA may hinge on whether regulators are prepared to **enforce drastic measures**, including **breaking up companies that consistently violate the law**.

Can the EU curb tech giants’ dominance of the digital marketplace? It’s trying to, with the introduction of the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, a ground-breaking piece of legislation it began enforcing in March this year. The aim is to improve consumer choice and open up markets for European start-ups to flourish. The legislation forbids tech giants from anti-competitive behaviour, such as favouring their own products and services over competitors on their own platforms. It’s also looking to stop non-compliant behaviour before it takes hold. The EU is targeting what it calls “gatekeepers” - defined by the law as platforms with a market cap above €75bn, more than 45 million active monthly users in the EU, and annual turnover of more than €7.5bn. So far, it’s designated seven gatekeepers - Google’s parent company Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta, ByteDance and Booking.com. Apple and Meta have already been found

in breach of the DMA. If non-compliance continues, the law grants European regulators extraordinary powers of enforcement. This includes fines of up to 20 per cent of total worldwide annual turnover for repeat infringements, which could cost companies billions. As a “last resort option,” regulators could even force structural changes such as the break-up of businesses. The act has had a visible effect. For example, Apple is allowing alternative app stores on its operating system in the EU. Google has said it will stop showing its flight search service in its search results in the bloc and will give rival comparison sites more prominence. But there have also been signs the act could limit choice for European consumers. Last year, Meta released its Twitter-like service Threads into the EU five months after other parts of the world, due to what it called “regulatory uncertainty.” The big tech companies have been adept in the past at redesigning their services to sidestep regulations.

They also have virtually unlimited resources to fight them. So the question may well be whether EU regulators are willing to entertain the “nuclear option” of breaking up companies that repeatedly break the law, with the fallout that would bring.

What impact is the Digital Markets Act having? | FT Tech

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Financial Times

The EU's Digital Markets Act: Curbing Tech Giants

The EU is enforcing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to reduce the dominance of tech giants in the digital marketplace.

The legislation targets "gatekeepers" with significant market power and prohibits anti-competitive behavior.

The DMA grants regulators strong enforcement powers, including hefty fines and potential business break-ups, and has already influenced companies like Apple and Google to change their practices.

EU regulators have significant resources to combat companies that repeatedly break the law.

The potential for using the "nuclear option" of breaking up these companies is being considered.

The fallout from such a drastic measure raises concerns about its implications.