European regulators crack down on Big Tech
Updates with Spanish antitrust probe on Apple
July 24 (Reuters) -European regulators have launched a series of probes into Big Tech in recent years.
Here are some of the actions taken by European watchdogs against big technology companies:
EUROPEAN UNION
Apple AAPL.O settled an EU antitrust probe and will open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals, EU antitrust regulators said on July 11.
It faces three investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) over its business practices.
Brussels fined Apple 1.84 billion euros ($1.97 billion) in March, its first ever EU antitrust penalty, following a 2019 complaint from Spotify SPOT.N.
Microsoft MSFT.O gave up its board observer seat at OpenAI on July 10, in a move aimed at easing U.S. and UK antitrust regulators' concerns about the extent of its control over the AI startup.
EU antitrust regulators on June 25 charged Microsoft of illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product.
The EC is also probing Microsoft's security software practices, according to a document regulators sent to at least one of its rivals in January, seen by Reuters.
The EC charged Meta META.O on July 1 for failing to comply with the DMA in its new pay or consent advertising model.
Facebook and Instagram are also being investigated for potential breaches of EU online content rules relating to child safety, which could lead to hefty fines, the EC said on May 16.
Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google is also being investigated over possible breaches of the DMA, the EC said in March.
An advisor to Europe's top court said in January that the court should uphold Google's EU antitrust fine of 2.42 billion euros ($2.60 billion). The EC fined the company in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
In September 2023, the EU named 22 so-called "gatekeeper" services run by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok-owner ByteDance, giving them six months to comply with the DMA provisions meant to make it easier for European users to move between competing services.
In April, the regulators designated Apple's operating system for iPads as a gatekeeper under the DMA.
Meta and TikTok appealed against the gatekeeper status in November, with the latter losing a bid to suspend its designation in February. Apple said in April it would continue to engage with the EC to comply with the rules.
BRITAIN
In October, Britain's media regulator asked the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate Amazon and Microsoft's dominance of the UK cloud market.
FRANCE
The French competition authority confirmed on July 15 it was investigating chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O over alleged anti-competitive practices.
The competition watchdog in March fined Google 250 million euros ($268 million) for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers.
GERMANY
Google agreed to change its user data practices to end a German antitrust investigation aimed at curbing its data-driven market power, the German cartel office said in October.
ITALY
Italy's antitrust agency said on July 18 it had launched a probe into Google and its parent company Alphabet, related to the request for consent that Google sends to its users to connect its multiple services.
The regulator said in June it had fined Facebook and Meta 3.5 million euros ($3.75 million) for what it described as unfair commercial practices.
Last year, it opened a probe into Apple for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the apps market, and took measures against Meta over an alleged abuse of its position in the country, in a probe involving the rights to music posted on its platforms.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch privacy watchdog in April recommended that government organisations should stop using Facebook as long as it is unclear what happens with personal data of users of the government's Facebook pages.
The country's competition regulator last year rejected Apple's objections against fines of 50 million euros ($53.6 million) over a failure to comply with regulations aimed at limiting the dominant position of its App Store.
SPAIN
Spain's antitrust regulator opened an investigation on July 24 into Apple's app store.
Spain's data protection watchdog in May provisionally suspended two planned Meta products that were to be deployed in the EU election on Instagram and Facebook.
($1 = 0.9323 euros)
Compiled by Alessandro Parodi, Olivier Cherfan, Paolo Laudani and Enrico Sciacovelli in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi
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