Apple, Meta and Google to face investigation under new EU law

European authorities plan to investigate Apple, Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google to determine whether or not these companies have violated the provisions of the European Union's (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA), according to sources familiar with the matter.

The European Commission (EC) is expected to announce information on the investigations in the coming days and publish the results before the term of Competition and Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager ends in November, sources said.

Violating DMA regulations could cost these companies up to 10% of their global annual turnover.

Under the DMA, the EU requires tech companies to provide users and competitors with more choice to ensure a level playing field.

The EC declined to comment. Apple, Meta and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, in an interview, Vestager said new fees from Apple and Meta for their services could prevent users from benefiting from the DMA.

She also pointed to tactics used by some companies to discredit competitors' products or services to prevent users from switching to them, arguing that companies should not do so.

Ms Vestager added that she wants to speed up DMA investigations, aiming for a decision within six months so that users and app developers can see the benefits of the new rules sooner. By contrast, traditional EU antitrust investigations typically take years.

Previously, the DMA required the three companies, along with Microsoft, Amazon.com and ByteDance (owner of TikTok) to allow users to remove any pre-installed software or apps if they wanted, and to obtain users' consent to use their data across different services or for personalized advertising content.

Companies are not allowed to favor their services or products over those of competitors on their platforms.