The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into Google and Apple to determine whether they have Strategic Market Status (SMS), and is now welcoming comments on the matter. The investigation is specifically going to be focused on their mobile businesses and if they're found to be SMSs, they will be subject to 'conduct requirements' and 'pro-competition interventions'.
This investigation is going on under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer (DMCC) Act 2024. Google was the first company to be investigated to see if it's an SMS, but in relation to its search and ads businesses, now its mobile business is being scrutinized as well.
According to the CMA, here is what the regulator means by 'conduct requirements' and 'pro-competition interventions':
Conduct requirements
The CMA may put in place one or more tailored rules for SMS firms - steps that require them to take certain action or to stop a specific activity. These requirements may be put in place where doing so would be proportionate to achieve specific positive outcomes for users (or potential users) of the digital activity. These are fair dealing, open choices, or trust and transparency.
Pro-competition interventions
Once a firm has been designated with strategic market status, the CMA may investigate whether anything relating to the designated digital activity (for example, the behaviour of a firm or the structure of a sector) is harming competition.
If the CMA finds an adverse effect on competition, it can design and test interventions to address these competition problems and any harmful effects on users. This might include giving people the power to transfer their data easily between providers; or requiring firms to make sure different products and services work smoothly together (‘interoperability’), so businesses can more easily innovate and compete.
The CMA claims that its interventions will be proportionate, predictable, and only affect large firms. However, consumers may still be negatively affected if Apple and Google decide to disable features that the CMA doesn't like.
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