Factbox-European regulators crack down on Big Tech

(Reuters) -European regulators have launched a series of investigations into Big Tech in recent years.

Here are some of the actions taken:

DIGITAL MARKETS ACT

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) took effect in 2022 with the aim of curbing the power of Big Tech and ensuring a level playing field for smaller rivals.

Apple and Meta Platforms are set to face modest fines under the law, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on March 18, as the antitrust enforcer is focused on making sure companies comply with the law rather than sanctioning them.

The investigations are part of three probes started by the European Commission, which acts as the EU competition watchdog.

The EC is also investigating Alphabet's Google over possible breaches, and charged Meta last July for failing to comply with the DMA in its new pay or consent advertising model.

In September 2023, the EU named 22 "gatekeeper" services run by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok-owner ByteDance, giving them six months to comply with the provisions of the DMA.

Meta and TikTok appealed against the gatekeeper status in November 2023, with the latter losing a bid to suspend its designation in February 2024. Apple said last April it would continue to engage with the Commission to comply with the rules.

DIGITAL SERVICES ACT

Tech companies are required to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) that came into effect last year.

Meta's Facebook and Instagram are being investigated for potential breaches of EU online content rules relating to child safety, which could lead to hefty fines, the Commission said last May.

ANTITRUST

The European commission fined Meta 797.72 million euros in November over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace.

In September, Google won its challenge against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed five years ago for hindering rivals in online search advertising.

A week earlier, Google lost its fight against a 2.42 billion euro ($2.7 billion) fine by EU antitrust regulators seven years ago for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.

On the same day, Apple lost the fight against an order by EU competition regulators to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland, as part of a larger crackdown against sweetheart deals between multinationals and EU countries.

Regulators said last July that Apple had agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals to settle an EU antitrust probe. 

Brussels fined Apple 1.84 billion euros last March for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals via restrictions on its App Store.

The Commission in June charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product. It is also probing Microsoft's security software practices, a document seen by Reuters showed in February. 

EUROPEAN STATES

Individual European countries have also taken actions against Big Tech.

Apple lost an appeal on March 18 against a regulatory assessment that opens it up to stricter controls in Germany, following years of debate over its market position.

Britain's antitrust regulator in September provisionally found Google had abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition. A month earlier, it started probes into its parent Alphabet and Amazon's collaboration with AI startup Anthropic.

Other measures include a fine against Meta in Italy over unfair commercial practices and a French fine against Google for breaching EU intellectual property rules.

A Spanish regulator, meanwhile, opened an investigation into possible anti-competitive behaviour by Apple's App Store last July.

($1 = 0.9060 euros)

(Compiled by Charlotte Bawol, Alessandro Parodi, Olivier Cherfan, Paolo Laudani, Enrico Sciacovelli and Olga Sawczuk in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi, Peter Graff, Bernadette Baum)