I’m not sure who’s to blame in the #EU for giving up to the lobbying efforts of #Apple and #Microsoft (I can’t think of anything short of either public official corruption or macroscopic incompetence behind the last minute partial reversal of the #DMA definition of “gatekeeper” for the two most valuable companies in the world), but these are some consequences of this decision:

1. If Apple isn’t labelled as a gatekeeper when it comes to #iMessage (an app used by 1.3B people), then they won’t have to comply and open up their walled garden to 3rd-party clients - while, for example, Messenger and WhatsApp will have to comply, despite having similar numbers of users.
2. If Microsoft isn’t labelled as a gatekeeper when it comes to #Edge (a piece of software installed as the default browser on an OS used by at least 1.5B people), then they’ll be free to keep rewriting https:// URLs as microsoft-edge:https:// just for the sake of intercepting everything and breaking compatibility, they’ll no longer have to provide browser selection pop-ups on fresh Windows installations, and they can keep opening all the web views and PWA on Windows devices in their own browser without providing alternatives - while, for example, Chrome and Safari will have to comply.

Shame on the EU for bending to them. They have just lost a huge chunk of credibility, and nobody should trust them the next time that they say that they want to uphold the same principles to everyone. Shame on these companies and on their lobbying efforts. Shame on everybody who still uses their products and gives them so much undeserved leverage.

The DMA and the “gatekeeper” definition was supposed to be the proof that these companies are now run by responsible adults. Being a “gatekeeper” is the acknowledgment that you are running platforms used by billions, and with great power comes great responsibility - towards society, towards regulators, towards the rules of the open market, towards your own competitors.

My employer might be included on the list soon as well, and I’m more than happy to comply. Large tech companies like ours have enjoyed lavish profits and outrageous market shares and ignored anti-competition laws for too long: now it’s time to prove that we’re all grown ups who want to play by the rules.

Instead, Apple and Microsoft have unleashed their overpaid legal counsels and lobbying crews, who have engaged in a pathetic dance to gaslight Brussels officials, and force them to say that one of the largest messaging platforms and one of the most used browsers in the world, run by the two companies with the highest evaluations in the world, for some reason are not expected to play by the rules written for everyone else.

Shame on them, and shame on the childish sociopaths who run them.

theregister.com/2024/02/14/app…

Europe loosens the straps tying Apple and Microsoft to tough antitrust rules

Did someone say a safety word? iMessage, Bing, Edge, Ads avoid gatekeeper restrictions

^{Thomas Claburn (The Register)}