Europe takes a second look at Apple’s DMA compliance

The European Commission (EC) might have at last seen the sense of pulling back on some of its scrutiny of big tech, which could yet benefit Apple and Google. For many, this will be a welcome step, though critics will continue to criticize.

What’s happening, according to Reuters, is that the coming Trump presidency has “encouraged” Europe to take another look at how it is probing big US tech firms under the Digital Markets Act. The report claims the EC will review all its current probes, and that this review could affect current decisions and fines. Investigations will continue until decisions are reached, the report claims. 

Europe has not confirmed the claims, and in a subsequent statement denied its actions were under review; it said instead it was looking at resource allocation and investigation progress. “What we do have is upcoming meetings to assess maturity of cases, to assess the allocation of resources and the general readiness of the investigation,” the spokesperson said.

If the original claims are true, they do not represent the sudden onset of common sense, or any realization among the regulators that they are going too far in their attempt to create an utterly homogenized mobile ecosystem. Instead, the review has been in part prompted by the imminent Trump Administration. US tech giants have been lobbying the incoming president to challenge EU scrutiny of them.

Trump will be sworn in on Monday.

What this means for tech firms — and Apple 

The review means Europe could choose to alter the scope of the probes against tech firms, including Apple.  

All cases launched under the Digital Markets Act since March 2024 will be under review, the Reuters report claims. The review also means that all decisions and potential fines will be put on ice pending completion of the review; that’s significant, given the maximum fine that can be levied under this law is up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.

Any such pause would be positive news for Apple, as it gives the company an opportunity to lobby for less punitive outcomes and a more constructive compromise in which its platforms continue to provide unique features unavailable elsewhere. 

The hill Apple will likely be fighting from will include arguments concerning the privacy and security of its users; the company’s support for those values is pretty much unique at this end of the industry. It is worth noting that Apple was making arguments pertaining to such things literally years before the rest of the industry began to echo its concerns. The company’s focus on those things also lines up closely with Europe’s own views on privacy, as evidenced by GDPR.

At the very least, the review does buy Apple time to improve its business systems to better match what it now knows regulators want, without decimating its business. When dealing with any form of change, time is an advantage.

But change remains inevitable

That’s not to say Apple can stand still. The company’s senior executives are expected be in London this week, facing a class action lawsuit that argues it has, in effect, overcharged consumers for sales via the App Store. It remains unclear how Apple’s justifiable argument — that the vast majority of apps are distributed at no, or low, fees — will be understood as it argues that case. Apple faces similar action globally, and the litigation means it will have to change, even if only reluctantly.

Eager to force that change, Europe’s regulators are unlikely to slow their investigations into tech companies, but will be waiting on political direction before they decide the extent to which they will attempt enforcement.

Whatever the outcome of the review, there’s little doubt that Apple’s business continues to be exposed to the unravelling of internationalism. For example, even as the EU offers the sliver of hope that is implied by the DMA case review, the company’s problems in China continue to evolve. China is now slowing down Apple’s move to transplant parts of its supply chain parts of its supply chain elsewhere — particularly in India — with tighter export checks and limits to employee travel.

While there is no doubt that Apple CEO,Tim Cook has done excellent work in terms of managing the political complexity buffeting Apple’s business, it’s hard not to imagine he’d rather spend his own, and his company’s, time and money focusing on product development.

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