Europe's new rules on Big Tech
Europe's new competition rules for large digital companies are officially going live. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) legislation requires powerful tech firms, or "gatekeepers", to allow more interoperability, so they can connect and exchange with other systems or software, and to avoid giving preferential treatment to their own digital services. Five US tech giants and a Chinese group are concerned: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (parent company of Google), Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft (parent company of LinkedIn) and ByteDance (owner of TikTok). The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, hopes the rules will help European startups to compete and improve the services offered to consumers, particularly with regard to instant messaging applications. The six designated companies had until 6 March, 2024 to comply. They risk fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover, and 20% in the event of repeated violations.