The European Union (EU) started a big investigation into some well-known tech companies like Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Apple, and Meta (the company behind Facebook) on Monday. They’re checking if these companies are playing by the rules of a new important law meant to stop them from being too powerful and leaving no room for smaller companies to grow.
Last year, the EU said six companies were so big that they needed to be watched more closely. These companies are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok’s owner, ByteDance. They were told they had until March 7 to follow new rules that help make tech platforms fairer and give us more choices. If they don’t follow the rules, they could be fined a lot of money, up to 10% of what they make in a year worldwide. The EU wants to finish looking into this within a year.
Now, what exactly is the EU worried about? For starters, they’re looking into how Alphabet and Apple handle payments in their app stores. When you buy something in an app, like food delivery or a subscription to a fitness app, these companies usually take a part of the money. Some app makers try to get around this by asking you to pay on their website instead, so they don’t have to give a cut to Alphabet or Apple. Apple got in trouble recently and had to pay a big fine because they were stopping music apps from offering cheaper prices outside of Apple’s payment system. Spotify was really happy about this because they said Apple was being unfair.
Another thing the EU is checking is if these big companies are being sneaky by showing their products more prominently than their competitors’. It’s like when you search for something online, and the first options you see are from the company that owns the search engine, not necessarily the best or cheapest option.
The EU is also concerned about whether Apple is making it hard for people to remove apps they don’t want or change their default settings. Plus, they’re looking at how Meta (Facebook and Instagram’s parent company) handles our personal data and their new plan to charge people for not being tracked.
The companies being investigated have said they’ll try to work with the new rules. Google has already made some changes, and Apple thinks it’s doing everything right. Meta says offering a subscription to avoid ads is a common thing and they’re trying to follow the rules, too. This investigation is a big deal because it might change how these tech giants operate. It’s about making sure they don’t use their power to shut out smaller companies and that we, as users, have more choices and control. The EU is leading the way, and everyone is watching to see how this battle between big tech and regulators will turn out.
