On Wednesday 19 March, the European Commission announced a number of new decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), including preliminary findings against Alphabet (parent company of Google) and a specification procedure againstApple.
Google accused of self-referencing in its results. Google has been on the European Commission’s radar since March 2024, when the Commission opened an investigation (see EUROPE 13378/8) into whether the company was knowingly preventing app developers from informing users about offers outside its Google Play app shop, and whether it was favouring its own services and search results, such as Google Flights or Google Hotels.
The Commission said it had adopted a “preliminary view” and found that Google’s search engine “prioritised” results pointing to Alphabet’s own services rather than those of its competitors, thereby breaching the DMA’s obligation to treat third-party services in a “transparent, fair and non-discriminatory” manner.
Google’s app shop, Google Play, is also accused of preventing external developers from steering consumers to their own sales channels, where they can charge cheaper prices.
The European Commission also believes that the service fee charged by Google on its platform “goes beyond what is justified”.
These measures could aggravate existing tensions between the EU and US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to retaliate against any financial sanctions imposed on a US company (see EUROPE 13586/7).
“Alphabet now has the possibility to exercise its rights of defence by examining the documents in the Commission’s investigation file and replying in writing to these preliminary findings”, explained the Commission, which reserves the right to adopt a formal non-compliance decision if its preliminary views are confirmed.
Apple must do more to ensure the interoperability of its products. The Commission also told Apple that it must make its operating systems “accessible” to devices made by competitors, such as smartphones and wireless headphones, or face investigations and fines.
This ‘specification decision’, the second against Apple (see EUROPE 13486/25), sets out a detailed set of measures for how Apple should respond to requests from application developers to open up its systems.
The Commission launched a call for contributions on this subject last December, to ensure that the measures it might propose ensure effective interoperability (see EUROPE 13549/9).
Should the two companies fail to take action to comply, the European Commission is opening the door to potential fines. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)