Today, together with many others, we have co-signed this important letter addressing the urgent need for DMA enforcement.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to restore contestability, interoperability, choice, and fairness to digital markets within the EU. These fundamental principles of a well-functioning digital market have been compromised by the excessive power gatekeepers exert through their control of "core platform services."

The lack of competition in mobile ecosystems is fundamentally structural. Gatekeepers wield immense power due to the security model upon which these devices are built. Traditionally, on operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux, users can install any application they choose without interaction from the operating system gatekeeper, either by the business or the end user. Users can then grant these programs the necessary permissions to perform their desired functions.

While restricting what applications can do, such as limiting their access to certain APIs behind user permissions, is not inherently anti-competitive and can offer legitimate security benefits, its implementation on mobile devices is both self-serving and significantly damaging to competition in its current form.

This anti-competitive behaviour, hindering both browser and Web App competition, has and continues to cost consumers billions of dollars annually.

This is not an exaggeration; if the Web were able to compete fairly and effectively with native app stores, these gatekeepers would not be able to demand a 30% cut of all third-party software. Gatekeepers obtain this cut not through merit but simply by blocking all alternative means of running third-party software, such as Web Apps.

The harm extends beyond these taxes extracted through lock-in. It also damages the ecosystem in four other key ways:

  • Increased development costs
  • The ability to block competitors or entire categories of apps
  • Higher costs and friction associated with market entry, leading to fewer apps
  • Deprivation of new mobile device ecosystems from a library of apps, blocking a new competitor to iOS and Android from emerging.

The DMA was passed into law on 1st of November 2022 and its grace period for gatekeepers ended on March 7th 2024, more than 6 months ago. Despite this, gatekeepers (in particular Apple) are still not fully complying with either the letter or spirit of the DMA.

While the DMA has had some significant success in obligating both Apple and Google to introduce reasonably designed browser choice screens, fix this outrageous deceptive pattern, allow game emulators, fairer default choice and have three non-compliance investigations into Apple, there is still much to be done.

The following issues remain unresolved:

Apple:

Google:

Microsoft:

Meta:

Bytedance:

For this reason we are adding our voice to many others asking for a fairer, more competitive app ecosystem. Enforcing the DMA is the quickest way to get there.

We urge MEPs of the ECON and IMCO Committees to hold gatekeepers Apple & Google accountable for compliance with the DMA.

Read our joint letter here.