Europeans using Apple, Google and other major tech platforms woke to a new reality Thursday as a landmark law imposed tough new competition rules on the companies — changing European Union citizens’ experience with phones, apps, browsers and more.

Europeans using Apple, Google and other major tech platforms woke to a new reality Thursday as a landmark law imposed tough new competition rules on the companies — changing European Union citizens’ experience with phones, apps, browsers and more.

The new EU regulations force sweeping changes on some of the world’s most widely used tech products, including Apple’s app store, Google search and messaging platforms, including Meta’s WhatsApp. And they mark a turning point in a global effort by regulators to bring tech giants to heel after years of allegations that the companies harmed competition and left consumers worse off.

  • Altima NEOEnglish
    10•9 months ago

    Yeah, US regulators don’t have the guts to create these kinds of laws. There’s too much money in it for them.

    • JackGreenEarthEnglish
      2•9 months ago

      Don’t know who you mean by ‘us regulars’, but normal people don’t have the power, the guts is irrelevant. Only a few countries or organisations have that: The EU, USA, UK, China, and maybe a few others I have missed. The others besides the EU in that list don’t have the ‘guts’, as you put it, but the rest don’t have the power, even if they wanted to.

      • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1•9 months ago

        Why the UK? It’s a single market against the whole of the EU, the US and China. It’s size is not really relevant.

        • JackGreenEarthEnglish
          0•9 months ago

          Maybe it’s just my UK-centricity, but it seems to me that the UK does have quite a large effect on various markets. Of course, the effect was strongest when it was still part of the EU, but it still has 70m people, a non insignificant number, as well as historical ties.