Apple has initiated a legal challenge against an EU directive requiring it to open its closed ecosystem to competitors like Meta and Alphabet’s Google, claiming the demands are excessive and hinder innovation. In March, the European Commission specified Apple’s compliance requirements under the Digital Markets Act.
Reuters:
Apple said the EU’s interoperability requirements create “a process that is unreasonable, costly, and stifles innovation.”
“These requirements will also hand data-hungry companies sensitive information, which poses massive privacy and security risks to our EU users,” it said in a statement. “These deeply flawed rules that only target Apple – and no other company – will severely limit our ability to deliver innovative products and features to Europe, leading to an inferior user experience for our European customers.”
Meta, Google, Spotify, and Garmin are among companies that have requested access to Apple users’ data.
The legal fight will likely take years to play out in court. Until then, Apple will have to comply with the EU order.
MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. has leverage and recourse. Expect both to be used.
Trump administration has been warning the EU against excessive regulation of American technology firms. On February 21st, President Trump issued a directive, “Defending American Companies and Innovators From Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties,” threatening to impose tariffs on Europe to combat what he called “overseas extortion” of American tech companies through digital services taxes, fines, practices, and policies.
See also: President Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook called to complain about EU’s $17 billion in fines – October 17, 2024
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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