On the morning of May 7, the Ministry of culture, media and sports of the British government promised to give the digital market department (DMU) legal power to punish companies that do not comply with its rules. Previously, the British government established DMU in 2020 and said it would grant the agency the power to "formulate a code of conduct". Large technology companies must abide by the code in the UK, otherwise they will face a fine of 10% of their annual turnover.
Earlier this year, the competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released an interim report aimed at attracting the attention of DMU, but Apple The company responded positively to this.
DMU currently has about 60 staff, but it does not have power beyond the capacity of the competition and market authority. DMU is currently conducting a number of investigations, including the terms of Apple's app store and the "duopoly" of apple and Google on the mobile ecosystem. A government spokesman confirmed yesterday that DMU will have the right to address the "predatory practices" of some large technology companies in order to promote competition and give users more control.
Previously, relevant British departments proposed to make it easier for users to switch between IOS and Android, and give users better control over the use of search engines and their data. Application developers will be able to distribute their applications "on fairer and more transparent terms". It is also planned to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain better pricing from the services provided by large technology companies and have an in-depth understanding of the algorithms that drive traffic and revenue.
DMU will be able to impose a fine of 10% of its global annual turnover on companies that violate its code of conduct, with an additional 5% of its global turnover per day if the violation continues. In Apple's case, if it is determined that it has violated the rules of DMU, it may soon reach tens of billions of dollars in fines. Senior executives may also face civil penalties if their company is considered to have not handled information requests properly.
In recent years, the ecosystem of large technology companies, such as apple and Google, has been increasingly scrutinized by governments around the world (including the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union). Global regulators have made it clear that they are willing to explore reflection directions such as app store policies and app sideloading.