European Union regulators on Wednesday increased their efforts to compel Apple and Google to modify key aspects of their businesses, despite potential resistance from the Trump administration regarding the regulation of American tech companies.
The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc, stated that Apple and Google had breached a law passed in 2022 aimed at ensuring fair competition in the digital economy.
These decisions add another dimension to geopolitical tensions between the United States and the European Union on various issues such as trade, tariffs, Ukraine, and military defense.
According to the commission, a preliminary ruling found that Google had violated the 2022 law, known as the Digital Markets Act, by leveraging its dominant search engine to direct users to other Google services, thus giving it an unfair advantage over other online companies. Regulators also accused the tech giant of imposing unjust restrictions on its Google Play app store that constrained the offerings available to customers from app developers.
Apple was instructed to facilitate the synchronization of headsets, smartwatches, and other connected devices with Apple’s iOS mobile operating system.
“Companies operating in the E.U., irrespective of their place of incorporation, must comply with E.U. rules, including the Digital Markets Act,” Teresa Ribera, the executive vice president of the European Commission responsible for competition policy, stated in a release. “With these decisions, we are simply enforcing the law.”
These cases indicate that the European Union intends to maintain its vigilant oversight of major tech companies despite the tensions with the United States. For years, regulators in Brussels have targeted Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, X, and others for their business practices and platform content. However, some analysts have questioned whether authorities would soften their approach to avoid escalating conflict with President Trump.
The Trump administration announced in February that it would consider retaliatory measures if American companies were subject to the Digital Markets Act.
Nevertheless, the administration has not always been fully supportive of large technology companies. The Justice Department recently reaffirmed its call for the breakup of Google due to antitrust violations, continuing a policy initiated under the Biden administration.
The announcements made on Wednesday do not involve any fines, but the companies could potentially face financial penalties if they fail to implement changes that satisfy regulators.
The actions taken against Apple and Google represent some of the initial enforcement measures undertaken under the Digital Markets Act, a law designed to grant European regulators broader authority to compel major tech companies to adjust their products and services to facilitate competition for smaller firms.
Companies have argued that these regulations impede innovation in Europe. Apple has already postponed the introduction of certain artificial intelligence features in Europe due to what it perceives as regulatory obstacles.
“Today’s decisions entangle us in bureaucratic red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and requiring us to provide our new features for free to companies that are not subject to the same regulations,” Apple stated.
Google mentioned that it has made several changes to its search engine, mobile operating system Android, and app store to comply with European laws.
“The European Commission’s announcement today calls for further modifications to Google Search, Android, and Play that will negatively impact European businesses and consumers, impede innovation, weaken security, and lower product quality,” the company remarked in a blog post.