European regulators have launched a series of investigations into Big Tech in recent years. Here are some of the actions taken:

DIGITAL MARKETS ACT

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into effect in 2022, aiming to rein in the power of Big Tech and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals.

The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition watchdog, charged Meta in July for failing to comply with the DMA in its new pay or consent advertising model. It has also started three investigations into Apple and one into Alphabet’s Google over possible breaches.

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 provisions of 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 Commission to comply with the rules.

ANTITRUST

Google today lost its fight against a €2.42 billion fine levied by EU antitrust regulators seven years ago for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.

Apple today also lost the fight against an order by EU competition regulators to pay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland, as part of a larger crackdown against sweetheart deals between multinationals and EU countries.

Regulators said in July that Apple had agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals to settle an EU antitrust probe. Brussels fined Apple €1.84 billion in March for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals via restrictions on its App Store.

The Commission in June charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product. It is also probing Microsoft’s security software practices, a document seen by Reuters showed in February.

EUROPEAN STATES

Individual European countries have also taken actions against Big Tech companies. Britain’s antitrust regulator on September 6 provisionally found Google had abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition.

A month earlier, it started probes into its parent Alphabet and Amazon’s collaboration with AI startup Anthropic.

Other measures include a fine against Meta in Italy over unfair commercial practices and a French fine against Google for breaching EU intellectual property rules.

A Spanish regulator, meanwhile, opened an investigation into possible anti-competitive behaviour by Apple’s App Store in July.