Apple, Meta, Alphabet face EU probe under digital markets law

The European Union said it had started investigations into Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Meta over potentially uncompetitive practices.

The trio are being probed for possible breaches of the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and come three weeks after the bloc fined Apple €1.8bn (£1.5bn) for breaking competition laws over music streaming.

EU antitrust boss Margrethe Vestager and industry head Thierry Breton announced the ned investigations on Monday.

Apple also faces a major lawsuit in the US after the government accused it of monopolising the smartphone market.

The first two probes focus on Alphabet and Apple and relate to “anti-steering rules" where firms are not allowed to block businesses from telling their users about cheaper options for their products or about subscriptions outside of an app store.

“The way that Apple and Alphabet’s implemented the DMA rules on anti-steering seems to be at odds with the letter of the law. Apple and Alphabet will still charge various recurring fees, and still limit steering,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager told reporters.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Shrecast.com