How Sweeping Changes by Tech Giants Affect Users in the EU

Starting now, six of the world’s biggest tech companies must fully comply with the Digital Markets Act, a sweeping set of EU rules designed to prevent them from stifling competition in the digital market.

Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and TikTok owner ByteDance must now fully comply with new rules and the changes will affect users in the EU.

Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the six tech companies were designated “gatekeepers” in September of 2023 and granted six months to meet the requirements of the law or face fines of up to 10 percent of their annual worldwide turnover.

All companies have announced changes for European users focused on enabling third-party interoperation on gatekeeper systems, additional data protections, and more choices for users, among other things.

“Our new set of rules will now make online markets more open and contestable for small, innovative businesses to also get a fair chance of making it,” Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of EU competition policy said.

“And as consumers we will have more affordable options online. This will deeply change how online markets work and open up the digital marketplace, for the benefit of all European players, and users,” she added.

How the changes in big tech affect consumers in the EU

Consumers in Europe can do things that are off-limits to the rest of the world, such as downloading iPhone apps from third-party markets or using WhatsApp to send messages to loved ones who prefer other services.

In one seismic shift to comply with the law, Apple said it plans to let EU users download iPhone apps via third-party app stores — easing its grip on iOS for the first time since the App Store’s debut 15 years ago.

To some app developers, this change affords them greater flexibility in how they distribute, charge for and promote their products. For regular consumers, it could mean easier access to apps that Apple would never sell itself.

In another significant change, Google said it will alter search results to drive more traffic to independent comparison-shopping or travel-booking sites, instead of directing users toward Google Flights or other tools it owns.

Google will also allow Android users to select a preferred browser and search engine from a menu of options when first setting up their devices, rather than defaulting users to Google’s Chrome browser and search engine. That could give a leg up to rival browsers such as Opera or Mozilla’s Firefox and competing search engines including DuckDuckGo or Microsoft’s Bing.

Users of messaging apps such as Signal or Viber, meanwhile, could soon be able to send chat messages directly to people who use Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp platforms, under a new openness requirement imposed on the social media giant.

And streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix could potentially market discounts within their apps to those that buy subscriptions through the services’ respective websites rather than through proprietary in-app payment systems once forced on app developers by the app stores.