Apple and Google criticize the newly unveiled Digital Markets Act that will force companies designated as gatekeepers to open up their platforms to competitors

Apple and Google criticise newly unveiled Digital Markets Act that will force a radical overhaul of their global operations

Financial Times 2022-03-27 Javier Espinoza

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple and Google’s objections mark the opening dispute over a regime aimed at making dominant platforms contestable. The later record shows that the dispute moved from principle to enforcement: the EU formally investigated Apple and Google’s DMA compliance over app-store steering and other platform practices.

The DMA also became a template for wider oversight. The UK subsequently proposed a Digital Markets Unit to address Big Tech dominance and later moved to classify Apple and Google with strategic market status, extending comparable scrutiny beyond the EU.

First-order effects

Apple and Google face requirements to alter platform rules that had governed how rivals and developers reach users, making their control of app-store and operating-system access a regulatory issue.
Developers and competing services gain a formal basis to seek access and challenge platform restrictions rather than relying solely on Apple and Google’s private policies.

Second-order effects

Apple and Google’s compliance choices become an enforcement test: the EU’s later investigations into developer steering show that opening rules can shift disputes from legislation to the details of implementation.
UK regulators gain a clearer model for imposing parallel conduct rules on the same platforms, reducing the ability to treat market-access rules as jurisdiction-specific exceptions.

Third-order effects

Platform competition policy is shifting from punishing individual conduct after the fact toward setting operational rules for designated gatekeepers, including access to interfaces, app distribution, and user reach.
If EU and UK regimes continue to converge, Apple and Google will increasingly manage core platform governance as a regulated function across major markets rather than as a unilateral product-policy decision.

The trend: Digital competition policy is evolving into ongoing regulation of platform access, with Apple and Google serving as the central test cases for contestable gatekeeping.

Discussion

@austen Austen Allred on x
The craziest part of this is if it passes it has to be live by *October*. Six months to build an entire ecosystem for alternative app stores, sideloading, and messaging interoperability. By law. https://twitter.com/...
@pixeldetracking @pixeldetracking on x
“Data combination and cross use will only be possible with explicit consent,” said Schwab. “This is especially true for the purpose of advertising and also applies to combination with third-party data (e.g., Facebook with third parties). 💪 https://twitter.com/...
@miltonmueller Milton Mueller on x
Not quite. They address privacy in very different places and in different ways. Stopping the publication of private dns registration data had an equally strong effect. WhatsApp is a private service. DNS is public infrastructure https://twitter.com/...
@huk06 Habibullah Khan on x
This is huge news! EU saying personal messaging has to be interoperable. This ends the walled gardens for messengers. If they allow you to export your social graph it is over! And I think they may https://techcrunch.com/...
@hodapp Eli Hodapp on x
It's truly incredible to me that instead of doing these things from a position of strength Apple is effectively going to allow legislators to instead design what an open iPhone needs to look like. Reminds me of some old school BlackBerry-tier hubris. https://twitter.com/...
@collins_belton Collins Belton on x
Kind of incredible to see Europe hyper focused on bringing US tech companies to heel by forcing interoperability and opening their networks in the DMA only to be so hostile to crypto but, c'est la vie. https://arstechnica.com/...
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
An implementation deadline of October is going to mean all hands on deck for Apple to get all of this done for iOS 16. No time to find workarounds. Of course, Apple has nothing prepared because, despite years of very clear signs this was going to happen, it walked off the cliff h…
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
Good morning! Today is international If We Open Up Platforms The World Will Explode Day sponsored by Big Tech Lobbyists and Astroturfers
@webbemotional @webbemotional on x
If approved, this will pave the way for blockchain gaming, integrating web3 into iOS native games. https://twitter.com/...
@markrein Mark Rein on x
“The owner of a smartphone should have the freedom to choose how to use it” - I regularly download Microsoft Office from Microsoft's website for my Macs without fear. Apple can provide for safe sideloading on iOS like they do today on MacOS. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
This is a good point. If the EU wants to promote competition it can start by strengthening data portability to make sure people can easily switch. There are hard privacy issues with exporting your contact list, but more solvable than interop. https://twitter.com/...
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Apple had opportunity after opportunity to correct its behavior, but clearly that was impossible from within. It fought viciously up until the end. Every single side-effect is entirely on them, and they deserve every bit of it https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
iMessage does not have a groups function. WhatsApp does. If the EU mandates interoperability, does Apple have to build a groups function that works the way the WhatsApp one does? WhatsApp limits message forwarding - does Apple? Who decides? Who enforces that?
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@MikeIsaac One of the reasons that the closed messaging products are such a better experience than SMS/MMS/RCS is that they aren't limited by incredibly slow standardization processes and you can upgrade without waiting for hundreds of counterparties.
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
By 2023 iMessage and WhatsApp will have to be interoperable, because Europe said so. Wild new internet we're living on these days https://twitter.com/...
@riptari @riptari on x
@Carnage4Life The fines may be quite a mouthful (up to 10% of annual turnover; 20% for repeat breaches). Plus IOP is asymmetrical; gatekeepers (eg fb) couldn't get IOP upside themselves - it's for smaller rivals to request
@winterskiis Abby on x
I shall once again express that yes, I want sideloading on the iPhone. But I do NOT support big governments forcing companies to implement it. It should be a choice and not be mandated. https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
What we will see here, of course, is a trade-off - a policy that is good for competition but bad for privacy and bad for the product. You can never have all three.
@antitrusty Alex Harman on x
Another example of the top-notch Big Tech lobbyists getting completely shut out and losing both the battle and the war. I bet the problem is that they aren't paying their lobbyists enough. 🤦‍♂️ https://twitter.com/...
@antitrusty Alex Harman on x
The idea that Big Tech lobbyists with all the money, resources, and relationships of the the largest companies in the world, who spend more on lobbying than ANY other companies can't catch a break says a lot of about how unpopular these the companies have become.
@carnage4life @carnage4life on x
This is what happens when legislators don't understand how network effects work. The law basically makes iMessage a client for Signal & Telegram. The assumption being users would gravitate to the smaller app if one could use iMessage or Signal with same friends. Huge assumption.
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@matrixdotorg ... If your messaging standard does not provide the same level of effortless privacy I get from Signal or WhatsApp (I'm excluding iMessage due to 🇨🇳) then IT IS NOT READY. Government mandates requiring an inferior and less secure experience are going to backfire.
@anshelsag Anshel Sag on x
This is a huge win for consumers and a major thorn in Apple's side, but I believe it will bring about the adoption of RCS in iMessage and other messaging platforms. I had a feeling the EU would be the ones to move the needle on this first. https://twitter.com/...
@rileytestut @rileytestut on x
Like @marcoarment, I think “what is the worst a company like Facebook could do?”...and unfortunately with this bill it's a *lot* e.g. say goodbye to App Tracking Transparency — the apps ATT matters the most for will just leave the App Store, rendering ATT effectively useless
@rileytestut @rileytestut on x
Like it or not, looks like alternative app stores are officially coming to the iPhone... You'd think I'd be happy, but I'm very worried about the implications of this 😞 I want sideloading, but it needs to be the _exception_ to the rule...and this makes it way too convenient https…
@rileytestut @rileytestut on x
Sideloading can allow new apps to exist, but it _shouldn't_ affect those who explicitly chose a curated, secure platform. Forcing Apple to allow alternative app stores is great for giant companies like Facebook and Epic, but is _much_ worse for consumers But what do I know 🤷‍♂️
@vestager @vestager on x
We have a deal on #DMA! Last trilogue with @Europarl_EN and @EUCouncil ended with a good, strong agreement. Tune into our press conference tomorrow 8:45 😊 https://twitter.com/...
@samsabin923 Sam Sabin on x
something to watch: encryption experts are raising concerns about the messaging interoperability requirements in DMA, warning it will hinder the privacy protections that Europe loves so much https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
There are a lot of good ideas in the Digital Market Act. Open up app stores, great! Fight against rent seeking platforms, excellent! Open up closed APIs! Make platforms transparent and ad ecosystems more competitive, good!
@shila_ray @shila_ray on x
@benedictevans sir - you can do groups on iMessage. I have a few of them on iMessage although in all cases the group owner knew that all the participants were on iOS. xPlatform large groups, WhatsApp wins the battle.
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
@MarkCornelisse No, not at all the same. WhatsApp groups have admins and invitations and can have 256 member
@robchandhok @robchandhok on x
@benedictevans Recall when AOL and Yahoo thought about integrating their messaging - they couldn't (at the time) afford big enough pipes to handle the bandwidth of just “online status” updates between the two systems. These are large scale issues, as you point out. This isn't jus…
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
@shila_ray No, iMessage groups work completely differently
@markcornelisse Mark Cornelisse on x
@benedictevans Nope, iMessage does have group chats. Since 2011 or earlier.
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
There's a naive idea here (which ironically comes up a lot in web3) that messages are just messages and messaging apps are just messaging apps and the difference is the logo - and that really isn't true. These are systems, and Interconnecting them raises all sorts of questions
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
The way the EU stuffed this through without any discussion, or even mechanism for discussion, is a failure of process regardless of what you think of the outcome.
@davidcicilline David Cicilline on x
As I said last February, change is coming. Laws are coming. Congratulations to my friends across the Atlantic on this hard fought victory to #ReinInBigTech. Now, Congress must act by passing my American Innovation and Choice Online Act. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com…
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@MikeIsaac Yeah, and also as many people have pointed out federating an end-to-end encrypted namespace across many providers is a very open engineering challenge. A cynic might say that this is a way to effectively outlaw E2EE while framing it as an antitrust move against tech.
@carnage4life @carnage4life on x
Imagine a world where • Gmail users can receive email from any email service that asks • Hotmail users can receive mail from Hotmail or Gmail users • Yahoo Mail users can receive email from Yahoo or Gmail users. Now swap these names with WhatsApp, Signal & Telegram. 🤫 #DMA https:…
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
But EC/EP politicians are being told that they can have their data privacy, competition, safety, user experience and data localization cakes and eat them all too with the messenger interop requirement, and that is just plain wrong. Some discussion: https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
It's relatively straightforward to imagine how iMessage and WhatsApp could be interoperable, but more of a puzzle to work out what it would mean to send a Snap story to WhatsApp - what does the EU think should happen then? And who gets fined if it doesn't work?
@mr_james_c James Clark on x
Every single one of these articles *uncritically* reports regulators who have proven repeatedly their actions absolutely warrant criticism. Incredible. https://www.ft.com/... via @FT
@jessefelder Jesse Felder on x
‘The DMA will force so-called gatekeepers to open up their platforms to competitors, such as by forcing the companies to ensure their services are “interoperable”.’ https://www.ft.com/...
@fboversight @fboversight on x
The Digital Markets Act is an important, monumental step in reigning in Facebook and others monopoly power. The EU is setting the global standard. Other nations should follow. /1 https://www.reuters.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
But either way this is a terrible process for implementing rules like this - stuffing a clause into a piece of primary legislation at the last minute without any debate. Technical regulatory questions should be decided by specialist regulators, just as in any other field.
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
If any messaging app is obliged to accept any inbound messages from any other app, then how do you deal with spam or harassment? How do you block harassers?
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
You will, almost certainly, have to disable end to end encryption at the moment a message leaves one network and goes to another - how do you signal that to the user? Will the EU fine you for telling people that the EU has broken your privacy?
@gartenberg Michael Gartenberg on x
Good luck with that. Apple wouldnt even comply with the universal charging port request, i doubt this changes anything for Google. https://9to5mac.com/...
@carnage4life @carnage4life on x
I'm confident that Apple will either ignore or delay implementation eating fines along the way but once they do will restrict interoperability to EU users. They have elevated proprietary lock-in to a fine art. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@Carnage4Life Apple already has an out built in: SMS/MMS compatibility. Maybe they just turn Europe into all green bubbles and see what happens. Currently not an option for WhatsApp.
@floorter @floorter on x
I'm sceptical of mandated interoperability too. Why not start with actual enforcement on art. 20 GDPR (data portability) and then see if 1) that's even practically feasible, and 2) if more interoperability is needed. https://twitter.com/...
@erosresmini @erosresmini on x
Is Discord a messaging service? Is this going to be a waste of time like GDPR? https://twitter.com/...
@histoftech Mar Hicks on x
Fascinating that we're in a moment in computing's history where this kind of interoperability must be legislated—and to know that many in the US will believe this attempt to improve communications infrastructure is an overreach on the part of foreign govts https://www.theverge.co…
@muradahmed Murad Ahmed on x
Big Tech companies forced to pay up to 20 per cent of global revenues for repeat offences and even risk being broken up, if they breach the EU's new Digital Markets Act. Apple and Google attack the measures. By @JavierespFT in @FT https://www.ft.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
The Digital Markets Act also means Apple will have to allow alternatives to its App Store to download iOS apps, and users of iOS and Android will be able to “freely choose their browser, their virtual assistant or their search engine.”
@fooflington @fooflington on x
Wow, this is huge... a legal end to online walled gardens forcing interoperability between (similar?) services like WhatsApp and iMessage. I'm really pleased! https://twitter.com/...

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