The European Commission has passed laws that should limit the monopoly of tech giants like Google and Apple.

The European Commission voted in favor of the digital markets (DMA) and digital services (DSA) laws, designed to fight the monopolies of tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, writes Reuters. Such gatekeeper companies, according to the innovations, should allow developers to use third — party payment systems in applications, and users to install applications from third-party platforms, etc.

Most importantly, the antitrust rules adopted by the European Commission stipulate that gatekeepers should: allow users to install applications from third-party app stores and download them directly from the internet; allow developers to implement third-party payment systems in applications; make messaging, voice and video calls compatible with third-party services on request; do not pre-install critical applications (such as browsers) in operating systems; grant users the right to refuse services of the operating system that work on the subscription model; share data and indicators with developers and competitors, in particular data on the effectiveness of marketing and advertising. inform the European Commission about mergers and acquisitions, etc. In addition, gatekeeper companies can no longer: provide their products, programs, or services with preferential treatment or a higher position than others; set unfair conditions for business users; pre-install certain programs; require developers to use a certain browser, and so on. Details

The innovations provide that companies that ignore the rules will pay a fine of up to 10% of the company's annual global turnover or 20% in case of repeated violations. If the violations are systematic, the European Commission will be able to impose additional sanctions, such as requiring the sale of a business or parts of it, including divisions, assets, intellectual property rights or trademarks, etc.

The laws adopted by the European Commission should be ratified in July and September. They will enter into force 20 days after ratification.