European Union begins probes into Google, Apple, and Meta

Investigations are underway looking into possible violations of the Digital Markets Act, which was established in 2022, by Apple, Meta, and Alphabet.

The companies may be hit with hefty fines equal to 10% of their yearly revenue if it is determined that they violated the regulations.

Investigations are happening just three weeks after Apple was fined €1.8 billion by the EU for violating competition regulations related to music streaming.

In a historic lawsuit brought last week against the tech titan, the US accused Apple of controlling the smartphone industry.

According to the EU's inquiry, which was made public today, Apple and Alphabet are restricting anti-steering, or making it more difficult for applications to inform consumers about alternatives to utilising the app stores' in-app purchases for cheaper prices.

It is also investigating if Meta violated any regulations by requiring payment from users in order to prevent their data from being used for advertisements.

Margrethe Vestager, the head of EU antitrust, believes that the inquiry will take around a year to conclude.

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

(Sources: bbc.co.uk)