Last week, the Digital Markets Law (DMA) took an important step towards its application with the first agreement reached by the legislators of the European Union for its approval. This new regulation seeks to put in check some of the most important technology companies in the world, such as Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon, among others, with the introduction of measures that will drastically affect the operation of some of their most important services.
But what would be the most important changes that would come into force once the Digital Markets Law receives final approval? It is worth mentioning that the scope of the legislation is quite broad and its impact will be seen in the use of mobile application stores, messaging services, search engines and software, just to mention a few examples. Of course, we are talking about direct effects on the user experience; there will also be many other obligations and prohibitions that companies will have to comply with, but that will surely not be made public.
It is also important to mention that the Digital Markets Law will not come into force for a few months. The most optimistic projection of the European Commission points to October as a target, but analysts consider that it could only happen after 2023.
Below we review some of the changes more important that users will experience once the legislation is applied.
Interoperability of messaging services
By far, this has been the novelty that has had the most impact in recent days. It is that the first agreement of the Digital Markets Law contemplates the interoperability of messaging services. This means that users will be able to send and receive messages no matter what app one person uses or another.
What this would allow, then, is that someone can communicate from WhatsApp with another individual who uses Telegram, iMessage, Messenger or Signal, among others, and vice versa. In any case, this will not be something easy to achieve from the technical side, and the standards to achieve it have not been established either.
The Digital Markets Law will give messaging apps the right to request their connection with users of a rival platform. This has already been the subject of controversy, mainly focused on how it will affect the privacy of each service. In fact, security specialists have already stated that the legislation could break the end-to-end encryption offered by WhatsAppwhen dealing with apps that use a different protocol, or that do not use any at all.
“Trying to harmonize two different cryptographic architectures is something that simply cannot be done; one side or the other will have to make major changes. A design that works only when both parties are online will look very different than one that works with stored messages. How do you make those two systems interoperate?” one researcher recently told TheVerge.
Third party app stores and sideloading
This is the other big change that the Digital Markets Law proposes to the way users interact with their mobiles on a daily basis. In addition, it is clearly a lunge to the liver for Apple. It is that the new regulation will require that the dominant operating systems allow the public to access third-party app storesand that too the is enabled sideloading to install apps from unknown sources.
This will not be a big news for those who use Android devices. Although Google’s mobile operating system has its own official store —Play Store—, users can install applications from other alternatives, such as f-droidor download their installers from platforms like APKMirror to later install them manually.
However, this is not possible on iOS. Apple has historically refused to let iPhone and iPad users get apps outside of the App Store, either through other stores or through sideloading. Even Tim Cook himself, CEO of the Cupertino firm, has spoken out against that possibility; to the point of considering that “it would destroy the privacy and security model” that their devices offer.
And that’s not all, since the Digital Markets Law also provides that the dominant app stores will no longer be able to remove apps that intend to implement alternative payment methods. This could give a new twist to the long legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite.
Default search engines and services, also under the microscope of the Digital Markets Law
The Digital Markets Law also delves into issues that in recent years have strained the relationship between the European Commission and the big technology companies. We are talking, of course, about a increased regulation of search engines and the apps and services offered by default.
Thus, Google will not be able to give better visibility to its products and services than those of the competition in its search results. However, the effect of the new regulations is not limited to the Mountain View giant. Under these parameters, Amazon must allow other brands to be better positioned when the public searches for products in its online store, to mention another example.
On the other hand, default services will also come under increased scrutiny with this new law. According to the Digital Markets Law, the big technology companies that control a mobile operating system and a web browser will not be able to establish the latter as a default application. Here the clearest cases are Google with Android and Chrome, and Apple with iOS and Safari.
So, what will be sought is that users can choose if they want to keep the available options or if they prefer to download alternatives, when starting a device for the first time. Something similar will happen with search engines and other services, something that has already led to antitrust investigations (and millions in fines) in Europe in the past.
Another important point to note is that users they will no longer be unable to remove applications that come pre-installed on their devices. This will be a very positive change, since many mobiles and tablets arrive plagued with bloatware; we are referring to proprietary applications that the public often does not use but cannot uninstall either. The same thing happens with services (such as Google’s) that cannot be permanently removed either.
The Digital Markets Law proposes many changes behind the scenes
As we have already indicated, we have focused on the modifications proposed by the Digital Markets Law that will have a visible impact on the products and services most used by the public. However, the legislation will also come with many changes taking place behind the scenes. These are the most important ones, which we have previously addressed in hypertextual:
- The big technology companies will have to allow third parties to interact with their own services.
- Small businesses will be able to access the data that companies like Google, Meta, or Amazon, among others, collect when they use their platforms.
- Big tech will also need to allow small businesses to offer their products to customers outside of other platforms. They may also do so by offering different prices and conditions.
- The big tech They will not be able to collect non-public data from those small companies that use the digital platforms to use them in other services or compete against them.
- Nor will they be able to prioritize their products or services over similar ones offered by small businesses that use their platform.
- The Digital Markets Law also prohibits large companies from preventing consumers from contacting companies outside of their platforms.
It is clear that the application of the Digital Markets Law will be a topic of long debate and that promises much controversy. Some of the main technology companies have already expressed their disagreement with some points of the regulations; they even assure that it could affect the level of investment and innovation.
The truth is that those who break the law will be exposed to harsh punishments by the European Commission. Among others, a fine of up to 10% of the total worldwide turnover for one year, or 5% of the average daily turnover.