Europe has been working in this direction for some time and some big tech companies like Apple and Google have been dreading this moment for a long time. In December 2020, the European Commission proposed the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, two regulations adopted by the European Parliament today, paving the way for the formal adoption of both regulations by the Council of the Union. Union, the last step necessary for this regulatory package to have all the lights green.

In this new set of rules defines the character porter platforms, and this would be embodied in companies which controls access to platforms and the app market, something that mainly points to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. And that means they will have to comply with any restrictions set by regulators to limit anti-competitive behavior.

And what does it mean? Well, among other things, confirming that they will have to accept installation of apps from third-party stores, allow those responsible for apps to use third-party payment services, allow downloading and installing binaries from the Internet, that services that can offer better prices if contracted off-platform… and will need to allow developers to integrate their apps and digital services directly with the services guardians.

This means that they must be able to integrate with services such as messaging, voice calls, and video calls. Developers will also have access to hardware features such as NFC, security technologies and systems, means of authentication, and software to control these technologies. In other words, they will have to to open wide a number of doors that have been closed until now.

Each platform will have to create an independent compliance group to monitor your compliance with EU law. The porter They won’t be able to pre-install apps or require users to use any default app like web browsers. The guardians they cannot favor their own applications, products or services and will have to notify the EU of any merger or acquisition. And when it comes to privacy, they won’t be able to reuse private data collected during one service for the purposes of another service.

Executive Vice President for Europe Ready for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, stated: “The European Parliament has adopted strong and ambitious regulation of online platforms, which is a world first. The Digital Services Act protects the rights of users online, while the Digital Markets Act creates fair and open online markets. For example, this makes it easier to fight against illegal hate speech online and ensures that products bought online are safe. Big platforms will have to refrain from promoting their own interests, share their data with other companies and allow more app stores. Since the bigger the size, the bigger the responsibility, there are things that big platforms as such have to do and others that they can’t afford.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: “Ten years ago we turned the page with the idea that some banks are too big to fail. Today, with the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, we will definitively bury the idea that platforms are too big to be regulated. We are finally building a single digital market, the most important in the whole world free world. Identical and predictable rules will apply to all 450 million citizens in the EU, leading to a safer and fairer digital space for all.”