American tech giant Apple explained how it is complying with the European Union's Digital Markets Act at a hearing in Brussels on Monday, fending off criticism that it has not done enough to meet the terms of the law. It kicks off a week of hearings of all the tech giants and their compliance with the newly-enacted legislation.
In recent weeks Apple has announced a series of changes in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that came into effect on 7 March, including allowing apps developers to distribute their apps directly to iPhone consumers instead of through Apple's App Store.
"We were guided first and foremost by ensuring that we've complied with the law. And then second, that we did it in a way that was consistent with our values and consistent with the language that we've developed with our users over a very long period of time. And we think we've accomplished that," Apple's Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer said at a day-long hearing attended by app developers, business users and rivals.
The DMA requires so-called “gatekeeper” companies, including Apple as well as Google, Microsoft, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to open up their platforms and services to other businesses in order to allow more competition and better serve consumers.
Risk of hefty fines
"I think we're focused on it from a user perspective," Andeer told the hearing, adding that the developers are not being ignored, but iPhone consumers are the main focus.
Meta will present its own compliance efforts at a hearing on Tuesday, Amazon on Wednesday, Google's parent company Alphabet on Thursday, TikTok's ByteDance on Friday and Microsoft next Tuesday.
Companies that fail to comply with the DMA risk investigations that can lead to fines of as much as 10 percent of their global annual turnover.
Earlier this month the EU fined Apple €1.8 billion for breaking competition laws by favouring its own music streaming service over rivals, and the company faces a separate investigation into its mobile payments service, which it has promised to open up to rivals.
(with Reuters)
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