Items tagged with European Union
Apple and Meta have been hit with a combined fine of $800 million by the European Union (EU) antitrust regulators, over violations of the Digital Market Act (DMA). The DMA, which went into effect in 2023, is designed to promote fairness in competition among companies in the digital sector.
After one year of...
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Apple is blaming the arrival of the first porn app to its platform on the recently implemented European regulatory regime, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), that opened up iOS to rival app stores in the EU. Apple has been vehemently opposed to the DMA since its introduction. So it’s now pouncing on the opportunity to...
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Meta is being slapped with an $840 million fine by the European Commission after finding that the company had violated antitrust rules and is in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. These findings stem from proceedings the Commission opened back in 2021, as it investigated...
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The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) is levying a $102 million fine against Meta for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles of integrity and confidentiality. After a five-year investigation, the watchdog found that the social media giant was inadvertently storing user passwords in...
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Europe’s top court handed both Google and Apple multi-billion dollar penalties in a single day. The decision brought an end the crackdown EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, whose term ends in November, brought against the two tech giants nearly a decade ago.
Apple’s celebration of its Glowtime event yesterday...
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iPhone and iPad users in the European Union are about to get a lot more choices when it comes to what apps are present on their devices, with Apple being is under pressure from regulators. Even the seemingly immovable Apple App Store will make its way to the chopping block if a user makes that choice, thanks to the...
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Epic Games is finally making its return to Apple devices with the launch of its own store, but only for users living in the European Union. This is thanks to the Digital Markets Act that makes the installation of third party app marketplaces possible on iOS, and which the EU is keen on enforcing. Epic will also be...
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Investigations into Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Meta, three of the six tech giants the EU named as “gatekeepers,” are underway for possibly breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA). A few of the shortcomings listed are Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store, Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google...
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Apple’s upcoming iOS 18, codenamed Crystal, is being billed as the biggest update in the history of the iconic iPhone. This report comes in the midst of the tech titan having to make major changes to its App Store in Europe and the onslaught of AI advancements from competitors.
Apple analyst Mark Bloomberg believes...
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Apple's iPhone is the most popular smartphone family in the world, which makes it rather odd that the devices are still relying on the aging and slow Lightning port standard. Not for long, though. The European Union has mandated a change to USB-C, and former Apple exec Tony Fadell thinks the move is long overdue. He's...
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A group of Senate Democrats are urging the Department of Commerce to establish uniform charger standards and "restore sanity and certainty" to purchasing electronic devices. The recommendation follows the European Union (EU) passing new rules concerning what type of charging port companies use with mobile...
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The USB Type-C connector was devised to be the be-all and end-all of external connectivity. Whether it's carrying DisplayPort video signals, Thunderbolt high-speed data transfers, power delivery, or plain old USB, this port can do just about everything. For the most part, device manufacturers have swarmed towards this...
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The General Court of the European Union has overturned a massive antitrust fine levied by the EU against Intel back in 2009. At the time, the EU determined Intel had abused its dominant position in the market for x86 processors by offering conditional rebates to companies like Dell and Lenovo, and slapped the chip...
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Google had hoped an appeal of a massive €2.42 billion (around $2.8 billion in US currency) fine in Europe over shopping ads would be negated upon appeal, but the search giant was wrong. Very wrong. Europe's General Court upheld the decision by the European Commission, and in doing so, dealt a major blow to Google's...
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Misery loves company, right? Just ask Google—the company is seething over a massive fine over Android abuses that was imposed by the European Union three years ago, and has lashed out at the group for essentially turning a blind eye to the "real competitive dynamic" that exists between it and rival Apple. The EU has...
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Regulators in Germany are making a push for smartphone makers to extend the lifespan of their handsets with more than a have a decade of security updates. Seven years, to be more price, should the European Commission be swayed by the German government's argument. And if that comes to pass, it is reasonable to think it...
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Legislators worldwide have had a microscope on Amazon for some time now, and it seems a weakness has been found. The European Union recently slapped the world’s largest e-tailer with the biggest-ever privacy violation fine of a whopping 746-million euro ($888 million).
On July 16th, CNPD, or the Luxembourg National...
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A preliminary investigation into a complaint raised by Spotify over Apple's App Store polices has led the European Commission to issue a 'Statement of Objections' against Apple, saying the company "is in breach of EU competition law." It essentially amounts to an antitrust violation, with Apple having 12 weeks to...
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Though the Epic Games spat with Apple quieted down some, that does not mean the war is over. We are slowly creeping toward the May court date, where the two companies will face off before a judge. In the meantime, Epic Games is taking the battle across the pond after filing an antitrust complaint against Apple in the...
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Most people would probably agree that having standards is a good thing. If anyone needs proof of this, just look at USB. The connector is one of the best innovations to ever happen to PCs, and is found on billions of keyboards, mice, digital cameras, flash drives, and practically everything else. So why is Apple...
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Apple is firing back back at Spotify's antitrust claims in the European Union, saying the streaming music service only pays a 15 percent "app tax" in the App Store on around 680,000 premium tier customers. That works out to just 0.5 percent of Spotify's 100 million premium tier subscribers.
Back in March, Spotify...
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Spotify, the largest streaming music player in the world with 100 million premium paid subscribers, is beefing with Apple, which has aspirations of taking the throne. If Spotify is to be unseated, however, it will not be without a fight. Spotify is very much being proactive in its battle with Apple, and has lodged a...
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