European regulators have launched a series of investigations into big tech companies. Recently, the EU antitrust authority accused Apple AAPL for violating its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Microsoft 
MSFT to illegally link its Office and Teams products. 
META should also be billed under its “pay or consent” model, the Financial Times reported on July 1.
Here are some of the measures taken by European watchdogs against big tech companies:
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Commission (EC) said on June 24 that Apple 
AAPL App Store rules violate the DMA by preventing app developers from directing consumers to alternative offerings, following an investigation launched in March.
She also launched investigations into Meta and Alphabet. 
GOOG Google at the time.
Violations of the DMA can result in a fine of up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide revenue.
The EC has announced that it is opening a new investigation into Apple regarding its new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores.
On March 4, Brussels fined Apple €1.84 billion ($1.97 billion), its first EU antitrust sanction, following a complaint filed in 2019 by Spotify. 
PLACE. Apple said it would challenge the decision in court.
In their preliminary findings to be published in the first week of July, regulators will say they are concerned about Meta’s “pay or consent” model, the Financial Times reported on July 1, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Meta and the EC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
In May, Meta added security features to its CrowdTangle misinformation tracking tool for use during the June European Parliament elections in an attempt to allay EU concerns that sparked an investigation in April on the impact of Meta’s decision to phase out the tool.
Facebook and Instagram are also under investigation for potential violations of EU rules on online content relating to child safety, which could result in hefty fines, the EC said on May 16.
On June 25, EU antitrust regulators accused Microsoft of illegally bundling its Teams chat and video app with its Office product, and said more needed to be done to unbundle the package.
The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed in 2020 by a company owned by Salesforce 
CRM Slack’s rival workspace messaging app.
Microsoft said it would work to find solutions to address regulators’ concerns.
The European Commission is also investigating whether Microsoft prevents its customers from relying on certain security software provided by competitors, according to a document regulators sent to at least one of its rivals in January, seen by Reuters.
EU antitrust regulators also said Microsoft’s more than $10 billion investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI could be subject to European merger rules.
OpenAI’s efforts to produce fewer falsely factual results from its ChatGPT chatbot are not enough to ensure full compliance with EU data rules, a working group of the bloc’s privacy watchdog said in May.
An adviser to Europe’s top court said on Jan. 11 that the court should uphold Google’s €2.42 billion ($2.60 billion) antitrust fine. The EC fined the company in 2017 for using its own price comparison service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
In September 2023, the EU named 22 so-called “gatekeeper” services run by Alphabet and Amazon 
AMZNApple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance giving them six months to comply with DMA provisions intended to make it easier for European users to transition between competing services.
In April, regulators designated Apple’s operating system for iPads as the DMA’s gatekeeper.
Meta and TikTok appealed the guardian status in November, with the latter losing its attempt to suspend its designation in February. Apple said in April that it would continue to engage with the EC to comply with the rules.
BRITAIN
In October, the UK’s media regulator asked the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the dominance of Amazon and Microsoft in the UK cloud market. The CMA will complete its investigation by April 2025.
FRANCE
France’s competition watchdog said in March it had fined Google 250 million euros ($268 million) for violations of EU intellectual property rules in its dealings with media publishers. .
GERMANY
Google has agreed to change its user data practices to end a German antitrust investigation aimed at curbing its data-based market power, the German cartel office said in October. Google’s commitments would give users more choice over how their data is used on its platforms.
ITALY
Italy’s competition regulator announced June 5 that it had fined Facebook and Meta 3.5 million euros ($3.75 million) for what it described as unfair business practices.
Last year, the agency opened an investigation into Apple for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the app market and took action against Meta for alleged abuse of its position in the country, as part of an investigation into rights to music published on its platforms.
THE NETHERLANDS
In April, the Dutch privacy watchdog recommended that government organizations stop using Facebook until it is clear what happens to the personal data of users of government Facebook pages.
The country’s competition regulator last year rejected Apple’s objections to fines of 50 million euros ($53.6 million) for failing to comply with regulations aimed at limiting its App’s dominant position. Store. Apple will appeal the decision in the Dutch courts.
SPAIN
In May, Spain’s data protection watchdog temporarily suspended two Meta products planned to be deployed during the European elections on Instagram and Facebook.
A group representing more than 700 startups in Spain filed a complaint about Microsoft’s cloud practices with the country’s antitrust regulator in May, citing several allegedly anticompetitive practices in recent years.
($1 = 0.9323 euros)
