The European Union regulators on Wednesday increased their efforts to force Apple and Google to change their basic parts of their businesses, despite the possible boost by Trump’s management to regulate US technology companies.
The European Commission, the Executive Branch of Bloc 27-Nation, said Apple and Google had violated a law passed in 2022 intended to secure fair competition in the digital economy.
Decisions add a new layer to geopolitical tensions between the United States and the European Union on issues ranging from trade and invoices to Ukraine and military defense.
The committee said a preliminary decision found that Google had violated the 2022 law, called Act Digital Markets, using the dominant search engine to direct users to other Google services, giving it an unfair advantage over other companies on the internet. Regulators also accused the technological giant of unfair restrictions at the Google Play Applications Store that limit the offers that customers could receive from app developers.
Apple had said to facilitate headphones, smartwatches and other connected devices for synchronization with Apple’s mobile operating system.
“Companies operating in the EU, regardless of their place of integration, must comply with EU rules, including the law on digital markets,” Treeesa Ribera, executive vice president of the European Commission, said in a statement. “With these decisions, we just apply the law.”
Cases show that the European Union plans to continue the aggressive supervision of the largest technology companies despite tension with the United States. For years, regulators in Brussels have been aiming for Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, X and others about their business practices and content they share on their platforms. However, some analysts have questioned whether the authorities would soften their attitude to avoid creating more conflicts with President Trump.
Trump’s administration said in February that it would consider retaliation whether US companies had been targeted under the Digital Market Act.
However, the administration does not always fully support large technology companies. The Ministry of Justice this month reiterated its request to dismantle Google for violations of antitrust legislation, continuing a policy started under Biden’s administration.
The announcements on Wednesday do not include fines, but companies could eventually face financial sanctions if they do not make changes that satisfy regulators.
The actions taken against Apple and Google represent some of the first law enforcement steps taken under the law on digital markets, which was passed by a law to give European regulatory authorities broader power to force large technology companies to make changes to their products and services to facilitate their services.
Companies have argued that the regulations slow down innovation in Europe. Apple has already delayed the release of some of the characteristics of artificial intelligence in Europe because it says it is regulatory challenges.
“Today’s decisions are wrapped in bureaucracy, slowing Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give our new features free to companies that should not play with the same rules,” Apple said in a statement.
Google has said that it had already made several changes to the search engine, its mobile operating system, Android and its app store to comply with European laws.
“Today’s European Commission announcement is promoting more changes to Google search, Android and the game that will harm European businesses and consumers will prevent innovation, weaken security and degrade the quality of the products,” the company said in a blog position.
