Newsletter 1: investigations galore.
My new personal and academic website is officially launched. In the Newsletter tab, you will find short form updates on the latest DMA news. These updates cover new designations, procedures, decisions, or personal developments in a succinct manner. As I am writing this, there is enough happening the world of the DMA.
In early 2025, the European Commission issued its first two non-compliance decisions and fines. Meta has received an €200 million fine for their pay-or-consent model. The European Commission - in line with an earlier opinion by the European Data Protection Board - found that Meta’s offering the choice between a paid subscription model or consenting to the collection of personal data was against its obligations under Article 5(2) DMA. Meta will likely have to offer a ‘third way’ , which involves no subscription and no data collection. The EDPB’s Opinion in this matter related to the GDPR, and established general principles. It is clear that gatekeepers under the DMA have even less discretion in how they formulate their consent policies.
Apple was fined €500 million for its steering practices. Under the DMA, app developers should be allowed to communicate offers outside of the App Store free of charge. Following the non-compliance decision, Apple has amended its practices to make linking out towards the proprietary stores of the software developers easier. Moreover, Apple has made changes to its default browser choice screen and will now allow users to uninstall Safari. The Commission’s investigation into Apple’s ‘new business terms’, which includes the controversial Core Technology Fee (CTF), remains ongoing. The Commission has issued its preliminary findings for this case on the same day as it’s finding of non-compliance regarding Apple’s steering practices. The Commission is of the opinion that Apple has breached its obligations as its offering of different business terms disincentivises software developers to offer their apps on third-party app stores: if they accept the old business terms, they will remain exclusively on the Apple App Store. If they want to offer their apps on third-party app stores they have to accept the new business terms which include a number of fees for linking out, offering updates, payments, and a blanket CTF.
The Commission remains active in monitoring the DMA. It is still involved in ongoing investigations against Alphabet related to Google’s steering in the app store and its self-preferencing in horizontal search. In July, there will also be new compliance workshops for the second year of DMA compliance for Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance. The gatekeepers that were designated in the first round of the DMA have issued their second compliance reports in March. The public versions of these reports describe the (limited) changes gatekeepers have made to their business model as compared to their first compliance efforts.
It remains to be seen how the Commission will appraise these efforts. With the first cases winding down, the Commission may now have capacity to start up new investigations. Parties such as DuckDuckGo have already expressed the need for an investigation into Google’s data sharing related to their search activities. Meanwhile, Microsoft is coming under increasing scrutiny for their power over productivity software under EU competition law, where it has accepted commitments related to Microsoft Teams. Steam is also picking up on calls to regulate recommender systems and algorithms, and there is increased scrutiny of Big Tech as a result of geopolitical tensions and the power they hold over EU infrastructure.
This enforcement activity happens against the backdrop of ongoing investigations in the United States, where liability has been established against Google for the monopolisation of both horizontal search and advertising technologies. The debate has now turned to how to remedy these situations. The FTC has also filed a complaint against Meta for monopolisation through the acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram: if liabiliy is established, this may lead to the breakup of the Meta ecosystem. The first designations under the DMCCA are also expected in September of this year.