On Wednesday, European Union organizers have increased their efforts to force Apple and Google to change the main parts of their business, despite the possible separation from the Trump administration regarding the organization of American technology companies.
The European Commission, the executive branch of 27 countries, said that Apple and Google have violated a The law was issued in 2022 This was aimed at ensuring fair competition in the digital economy.
Decisions add a new class to geopolitical tensions between the United States and the European Union on issues ranging from trade and definitions to Ukraine and military defense.
The committee said a Preliminary I have found that Google violated the 2022 Law, the Digital Market Law, by using the dominant search engine to direct users to other Google services, giving it an unfair advantage over other companies via the Internet. The organizers have also accused the technology giant of unfair restrictions on the Google Play App Store, which is limited to offers that customers can obtain from the application developers.
It was apples He said To facilitate the matter on headphones makers, smart watches and other connected devices to synchronize with the Apple Mobile iOS operating system.
“The companies operating in the European Union, regardless of its location, must comply with the rules of the European Union, including the Digital Markets Law,” said the Tersa Ribera, Deputy CEO of the European Commission responsible for the competition policy. “With these decisions, we simply implement the law.”
Cases show that the European Union plans to continue its aggressive supervision of the largest technology companies despite tension with the United States. For years, organizers in Brussels were aimed at Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, X and others on their business practices and common content on its platforms. But some analysts wondered whether the authorities would reduce their position to avoid creating more conflict with President Trump.
Trump administration He said In February, revenge will be considered if American companies are targeted under the Digital Market Law.
However, the administration was not always fully supportive of large technology companies. The Ministry of Justice repeated this month its request Google is dismantled Because of the anti -monopoly violations, the policy began to continue under the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, ads do not include any fines, but companies can eventually face financial penalties if they do not make changes that satisfy the organizers.
The measures taken against Apple and Google are some of the first steps of implementation taken under the Digital Markets Law, a law approved to give European organizers a broader authority to compel large technology companies to make changes to their products and services to facilitate smaller companies.
Companies have argued that the regulations slow innovation in Europe. Apple has already been delayed in launching some features of artificial intelligence in Europe because of what it says are organizational challenges.
“Today’s decisions are committed to the red tape, which slows the Apple’s ability to innovate users in Europe and force us to give up our new features for free for companies that do not have to play with the same rules,” Apple said in a statement.
Google said she has already made a number of changes to her search engine; Mobile operating system, Android; And the application store to comply with European laws.
The company said in A. Blog post.
