New legislation in EU would promote competition and protect users from big tech companies

Pocketnow

By Samuel Martinez

Published Dec 17, 2020

New regulations in the EU could force companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon and more, to change to let other smaller companies compete

It seems that being a big tech company isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. These companies include Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook, and they could be the main target of new regulations in the European Union that wish to change how they operate.

The European Union is working to introduce new legislation that would limit the influence of big tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have in the market, which would also allow smaller companies to have a chance to compete in the European market. These new changes would come as part of the Digital Makers act, which includes the prohibition of self-preferencing.

“One of the potential changes is putting an end to self-preferencing — when, for instance, app search results in an Apple product display options developed by the tech giant. The idea is to give smaller app developers the same chance of being found and chosen by consumers.”

This would also give users the freedom to uninstall any unwanted app, including all pre-installed apps on their devices, and performance metrics would also be shared for free with advertisers and publishers. Now, these new changes wouldn’t be so hard to follow by companies like Apple, since its users have been able to uninstall pre-installed apps since iOS 10. Cupertino has also changed its Apple Store search algorithm to show less of its own apps at the top of the search options.

“The remedies could ultimately include forcing companies to divest if they breach the rules systematically. The same official said that selling parts of the business would only happen “if no other remedy is available.”

What’s more interesting is that companies that don’t comply with these new laws would have to pay up to 10 percent of the company’s worldwide annual turnover. Another measure would include forced disinvestment, which means that big companies would have to sell parts of their business if they breach the rules systematically. Whatever the case, European governments must first approve the two pieces of legislation before taking action.

Source CNBC

Via MacRumors