On Wednesday, the European Union regulators have increased their efforts to force Apple and Google to change the key parts of their activities, despite the potential rejection of the Trump administration on the regulation of American technological companies.
The European Commission, the executive branch of the block of 27 nations, said that Apple and Google violated a law approved in 2022 that it was destined to guarantee fair competition in the digital economy.
The decisions add a new level to geopolitical tensions between the United States and the European Union on issues ranging from trade and tariffs to Ukraine and military defense.
The Commission stated that a preliminary judgment discovered that Google violated the law of 2022, the law on digital markets, using its dominant search engine to guide users to other Google services, giving it an unjust advantage compared to other online companies. The regulators also accused the giant of the unjust restrictions technology on his Google Play App Store which limited the offers that customers could receive from the app developers.
Apple was told to simplify headphones producers, smartwatches and other connected devices to synchronize Apple’s mobile iOS operating system.
“The companies operating in the EU, regardless of their place of incorporation, must respect the EU rules, including the law on digital markets,” said Teresa Ribera, executive vice -president of the European Commission responsible for the competition policy, in a note. “With these decisions, we are simply implementing the law.”
The cases show that the European Union plans to continue its aggressive supervision of the largest technological companies despite the tension with the United States. For years, Brussels regulators have aimed at Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, X and others for their commercial practices and shared content on their platforms. But some analysts wondered if the authorities softened to avoid creating more conflicts with President Trump.
The Trump administration declared in February that he would consider the possibility of retaliation if American companies were targeted pursuant to the Digital Markets Act.
However, the administration has not always been fully favorable to large technological companies. The Department of Justice of this month reiterated its request that Google is divided due to antitrust violations, continuing a policy started under the Biden administration.
Wednesday announcements do not include any fines, but companies could eventually face financial sanctions if they do not make changes that satisfy regulators.
The actions taken against Apple and Google are some of the early stages of application adopted pursuant to the Digital Markets Act, a law approved to provide European regulators with the largest authority to force large technological companies to make changes to their products and services to make the smaller companies easier to compete.
Companies claimed that the regulations slow down innovation in Europe. Apple has already delayed the release of some artificial intelligence characteristics in Europe due to those that are said are regulatory challenges.
“Today’s decisions envelop us in bureaucracy, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give our new features free of charge to companies that must not play with the same rules,” said Apple in a note.
Google said she had already made a series of changes to its search engine; its mobile operating system, Android; And his App Store to comply with European laws.
“Today’s announcement by the European Commission pushes further changes in search of Google, Android and Play who will damage European companies and consumers, will hinder innovation, weaken safety and degrade the quality of the product,” said the company in a blog post.