How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates – The Verge

Google is better than Apple at playing the AI regulations game

2026-07-16T15:41:51-04:00

Google CEO Sundar Pichai | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Today, the European Union ordered Google to give its AI rivals greater access to Android, the open-source operating system that powers billions of devices worldwide. The demand is hardly surprising. It may look like a defeat on paper for Google, which has spent years resisting exactly this kind of access, but it is a regulatory win. It's also a sign that Google may have outmaneuvered Apple by playing Brussels' regulatory game far more shrewdly.

In one of two decisions handed down on Thursday, the European Commission - the EU's executive arm and the principal enforcer of the bloc's competition rules - said Google must give rival AI assistan …

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Google ordered to open Android and Search to rivals in Europe

2026-07-16T08:42:27-04:00

Google must give rival AI assistants and search engines greater access to key parts of Android and Google Search after the European Union ordered the company to comply with the bloc's digital antitrust rules.

The two decisions, handed down Thursday, could weaken Google's control over two of the tech industry's most important platforms and have far-reaching consequences for the company, shape the future of its AI tool Gemini, and open up new opportunities for rivals to gain ground. Google has until January 2027 to begin sharing search data and July 2027 to implement changes to Android.

The rulings stem from technical regulatory proceedings …

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Google might reshuffle search results to try to dodge fines in the EU

2026-02-26T10:18:12-05:00

Google is planning to test changes to how it displays search results for certain topics, nearly a year after it was charged with violating antitrust rules in the European Union, Reuters reports. The shift will show top-ranked rival services for hotels, flights, restaurants, and transportation higher up in results, rather than prioritizing Google's own services like Google Flights. It will be rolling out soon "across Europe," starting with results for lodgings, with "flights and other services" following later.

This update could address one of the core issues the European Commission highlighted when it ruled last year that Google was in vio …

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Microsoft will finally stop bugging Windows users about Edge — but only in Europe

2025-06-02T18:40:34-04:00

Microsoft's changes in response to the Digital Markets Act already included allowing Windows machines in the regions it covers to uninstall Edge and remove Bing results from Windows search, but now the list is growing in some meaningful ways. New features announced Monday for Microsoft Windows users in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) include the option to uninstall the Microsoft Store and avoid extra nags or prompts asking them to set Microsoft Edge as the default browser unless they choose to open it.

That last one is one I'd like to have readily available in the United States, and according to M …

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PayPal launches iPhone NFC payments in Germany after EU forced Apple to open up

2025-05-13T13:05:18-04:00

German iPhone users are starting to report that they're now able to use PayPal's tap-to-pay feature at in-store payment terminals, according to German tech site iPhone Ticker. The new capability, which PayPal announced earlier this month, is a result of the EU forcing Apple to open iPhone NFC chips up for third-party contactless payments under the Digital Markets Act.

PayPal's contactless wallet works with terminals that support Mastercard payments and is iPhone-only for now, so it won't work on an Apple Watch, iPhone Ticker reports (via a machine translation). In December, a Norwegian payment app called Vipps became the first to take adva …

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Apple and Meta hit with the EU’s first DMA antitrust fines

2025-04-24T03:43:01-04:00

Apple and Meta are the first companies to be fined for violations under the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission announced today that Apple has been served a €500 million (about $570 million) penalty after ruling that its App Store "anti-steering" practices failed to comply with DMA antitrust rules. Meta has been fined €200 million (about $230 million) following similar charges regarding Facebook and Instagram's 'pay or consent' ad model.

Both companies have been given 60 days to comply with the ruling, which in Apple's case includes removing its restrictions on developers, or face the risk of periodic penalt …

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Google Search charged with breaking EU antitrust rules

2025-03-19T12:15:59-04:00

Google is breaking European antitrust laws by favoring its own Shopping, Hotels, and Flights search services over rival comparison providers, according to the European Commission. The EU announced in its preliminary ruling today that Google's parent company, Alphabet, had also violated anti-steering rules under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by preventing app developers on its Play Store from steering customers to other distribution channels.

Google can challenge the preliminary charges or make additional compliance changes ahead of the EU's final ruling. The EU can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global annual revenue for DMA viola …

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The first iOS 18.4 developer beta is here, with support for Priority Notifications

2025-02-21T15:33:39-05:00

Apple just released its first developer betas of a new round of software updates, and early testers have spotted support for Priority Notifications in the iOS 18.4 preview. It's an Apple Intelligence-powered feature that uses on-device processing to try to detect which updates are especially important and sort them into a separate section above your other notifications.

According to 9to5Mac, the Priority Notifications feature is turned off by default in this first developer beta, but you can enable it with a toggle in the notifications area of the settings menu.

What we haven't seen yet, however, are details about an upgraded Siri. Amid r …

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Apple pushed hard by EU to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable

2024-12-19T06:34:19-05:00

The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate DMA proceedings launched in September, sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency aroun …

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Apple reportedly facing first-ever EU fine over App Store rules

2024-11-05T17:01:15-05:00

Apple will soon become the first company to incur a fine for violating the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), reports Bloomberg. Sources tell the outlet that the Commission is getting ready to levy the penalty after it found that Apple's "anti-steering" practices harmed competition on the App Store.

This follows the EU's €1.84 billion (around $2 billion) fine imposed on Apple in March. After investigating a complaint from Spotify, the EU Commission ruled that Apple restricted developers' ability to point users to cheaper purchases outside the App Store in March - a practice that's illegal under the DMA.

We still don't know how muc …

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