Meta, Apple and Alphabet (Google) continued possible non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act

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Meta, Apple and Alphabet (Google) continued possible non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act

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Meta, Apple and Alphabet (Google) continued possible non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act

Meta, Apple and Alphabet (Google) are likely not fully complying with the Digital Markets Act based on updates the three gatekeepers recently made to their compliance plans. Despite planned improvements in some areas, such as browser choice screens by Apple and Meta’s messaging interoperability user interface, there are still elements which suggest the three companies are breaching the EU’s landmark law to open up digital markets to more competition.

In this new report, we summarise some ongoing issues with Apple, Alphabet (Google) and Meta which the Commission should take onboard to assess the compliance of these gatekeepers with their DMA obligations.

This report touches on some areas we previously addressed in our broader analysis of possible non-compliance by the gatekeepers with the DMA in September 2024, to reflect the changes Apple announced in August 2024 to default browser and app choices and Meta’s plans announced in September 2024 on interoperability for instant messaging, and should be seen as a complement to our September 2024 report in the area of self-preferencing by Google.

The report does not cover ongoing issues with Meta on its pay-or-consent policy or the Commission’s preliminary findings against Apple related to allowing app developers to freely steer consumers to alternative channels for offers and content. Both of these issues were covered in our previous analysis.

Meta has announced what seem to be several, positive user interface design choices to comply with its obligations to make WhatsApp and Messenger interoperable with third-party instant messaging services. However, to fully assess whether is effectively complying, Meta must still:

  • Demonstrate that it has carried out live testing on users of its interfaces to ensure that consumers can easily make genuine informed choices on interoperability. 
  • Provide information and screen shots for all of the steps in the user journey.
  • Demonstrate that several of the design choices it has made support the consumer’s ability to choose messaging interoperability.

Apple seems to be making improvements towards DMA compliance as regards enabling users to change their default browsers and apps, and to make it easier to uninstall (delete) apps on their Apple devices. However, issues remain, notably:

  • Apple still provides too little information to fully assess whether its proposed user journey for changing default apps is compliant.
  • Apple provides too little information about the user journey to determine if users can “easily un-install” Apple apps.
  • Apple should show the browser choice screen immediately after the iOS update, rather than when the user next launches Safari to access the web. 

Google should, in order to comply with the DMA prohibition on self-preferencing on its search results pages, observe five principles to ensure that consumers have the best choices in response to their search queries in the short and the long term though the creation of a level playing field for all service providers online.

As for Meta, to demonstrate effective compliance, both Apple and Google must show that they have tested their implementations to ensure that their chosen user interfaces are in line with the DMA’s requirements.

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Sébastien Pant
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