European Union regulators on Wednesday shored efforts to force Apple and Google to change key parts of their business despite a potential pushback from the Trump administration over regulating American tech companies.
The European Commission, the administrative body of the 27-nation bloc, said Apple and Google had violated a law in 2022 aimed at ensuring fair competition in the digital economy.
The decision adds a new layer to geopolitical tensions between the US and the European Union over issues ranging from trade and tariffs to Ukraine and military defense.
The committee said the preliminary ruling found that Google was in violation of a 2022 law called the Digital Markets Act. We found that this uses its dominant search engine to direct users to other Google services, giving them an unfair advantage over other online companies. Regulators have also denounced the tech giant for unfair restrictions on the Google Play App Store, restricting customers to receive it from app developers.
Apple has been told to allow manufacturers of headsets, smartwatches and other connected devices to sync with Apple's iOS mobile operating system.
“Companies operating in the EU must comply with EU regulations, including digital market laws, regardless of where they are established,” said Teresa Libera, vice-chairman of the European Commission, responsible for competition policy, in a statement. “Through these decisions, we are simply enforcing the law.”
The incident shows that the European Union plans to continue aggressive surveillance of its biggest tech companies despite tensions with the US. For years, Brussels regulators have targeted Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, X and others about business practices and content shared on their platforms. However, some analysts have questioned whether authorities will ease their stance to avoid creating more conflict with President Trump.
The Trump administration said in February that it would consider retaliation if American companies were targeted under the Digital Markets Act.
But the administration has not always fully endorsed large tech companies. The Justice Department this month has repeatedly demanded that Google be dissolved for antitrust violations, continuing its policies launched under the Biden administration.
Although Wednesday's announcement does not include fines, businesses could ultimately face financial penalties if they don't make changes to satisfy regulators.
Actions taken against Apple and Google represent some of the first enforcement actions taken under the Digital Markets Act. This is a law passed to force large tech companies to change their products and services, giving European regulators broad powers to make small and medium-sized businesses more likely to compete.
Companies argue that the regulations slow down innovation in Europe. Apple has already delayed the release of artificial intelligence features in Europe as it says it is a regulatory challenge.
“Today's decision was forced to wrap us in red tape, slow Apple's ability to innovate for European users, and provide new features for free to companies that don't need to play with the same rules,” Apple said in a statement.
Google said it has already made many changes to its search engines, mobile operating systems, Android and App Store to comply with European law.
“Today's announcement by the European Commission calls for further changes in Google Search, Android and Play, hurting European companies and consumers, hindering innovation, weakening security and breaking down product quality,” the company said in a blog post.
