The DMA came into effect last May. It states, among other things, that big tech companies must adhere to stricter rules from the European Union, because they are so large and powerful that they are also gatekeepers for the services of others. The stricter rules apply to Meta, Apple and ByteDance, but also to Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Users can hardly avoid these companies and competitors are in trouble.
The DMA requires companies to give competitors and others space on their platforms. For example, a user of WhatsApp, which is also Meta, must be able to send messages to another messaging service. Users should also be able to remove unsolicited additionally installed software.
The six companies will still have a number of months to comply with the new rules. If they do not comply with the rules in time, they risk a fine of up to 10 percent of annual turnover.