EU Begins Probe into Apple, Meta and Google

The European Union has announced a probe into some of the biggest tech firms in the world over uncompetitive practices.

The investigation covers Alphabet, which owns Google, Meta, and Apple for potential breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduced in 2022.

If culpable, the firms can be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover.

The announcement of the investigations was done by EU antitrust boss, Margrethe Vestager and industry head Thierry Breton.

This is coming three weeks after the EU fined Apple €1.8bn (£1.5bn) for breaking competition laws over music streaming.

Meanwhile, the United States accused Apple of monopolising the smartphone market in a landmark lawsuit against the tech giant introduced last week.

The EU alleged that Apple and Alphabet are impeding anti-steering efforts, which aims to inform users about alternative payment methods outside of app stores' own systems. 

Additionally, Meta is under scrutiny for potentially violating rules by offering users the option to pay to prevent their data from being utilized for advertisements. This action, according to Mr. Breton, has placed millions of European users in a position where they must choose between paying or consenting. Ms. Vestager estimates that the investigation will require approximately 12 months to conclude.

"We suspect that the suggested solutions put forward by the three companies do not fully comply with the DMA," she said.

"We will now investigate the companies' compliance with the DMA, to ensure open and contestable digital markets in Europe."