Since it came into effect three years ago, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has sought to rein in major tech platforms’ anti-competitive behavior, largely by making it easier for users to switch platforms and move data between devices and apps.
Big tech hasn’t been happy with that, of course, and now Apple’s come out swinging against the regulation. The company on Thursday blamed the EU’s enforcement of the DMA for delaying the launch of some features in the EU, saying the rules are “leading to a worse experience” for Apple customers in the bloc by exposing them to new risks and reducing choices.
The iPhone maker also called on the European Commission to repeal the DMA until “a more appropriate fit for purpose legislative instrument is put in place,” the Financial Times reported.
Because the DMA requires companies to build in interoperability with third party devices and applications, Apple claims it has to delay some features in the EU, including its new live translation feature for AirPods, iPhone mirroring on Macs, and the visited places and preferred routes feature on Maps. The list of delayed features will “probably get longer,” the company said.
As the company frames it, the DMA’s interoperability requirements are hard to square with the company’s commitment to user privacy. The law requires companies to open up their ecosystems to competitors by making proprietary apps and features compatible with third-party hardware and software. But Apple says its teams are hard-pressed to find a way to do so without compromising user data.
“We’ve suggested changes to these features that would protect our users’ data, but so far, the European Commission has rejected our proposals. And according to the European Commission, under the DMA, it’s illegal for us to share these features with Apple users until we bring them to other companies’ products. If we shared them any sooner, we’d be fined and potentially forced to stop shipping our products in the EU,” Apple wrote in a blog post.
Apple’s post comes a few months after the EU fined the company more than $550 million for breaching the DMA by requiring app developers to transact payments for apps and services within Apple’s ecosystem. The company has appealed the decision.
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Apple also argues that letting users install apps from third-party app stores and use other payment mechanisms, as the DMA requires, is increasing the likelihood of scam, malware and fraud risks to its users.
“It’s been more than a year since the Digital Markets Act was implemented. Over that time, it’s become clear that the DMA is leading to a worse experience for Apple users in the EU. It’s exposing them to new risks, and disrupting the simple, seamless way their Apple products work together. And as new technologies come out, our European users’ Apple products will only fall further behind,” the company wrote.
“We are not surprised by Apple’s lobbying paper to repeal the DMA because Apple has contested every little bit of the DMA since its entry into application,” said EC spokesperson Thomas Regnier in a press briefing on Thursday. “This undermines the company’s narrative of wanting to be fully cooperative with the Commission […] We facilitated DMA compliance when we came up with the specification decisions and we told [Apple] how they could be compliant when it comes to interoperability. After two months, Apple came back and asked us to scrap everything.”
“Nothing in the DMA requires companies to lower their privacy standards, or their security standards. It is just about giving our users more choice, opening up the European market and allowing companies to compete on an equal footing,” Regnier added.