The overhaul rolling out Thursday only in the European Union represents the biggest changes to the iPhone's App Store since Apple introduced the concept in 2008. Among other things, people in Europe can download iPhone apps from stores that aren't operated by Apple and are getting alternative ways to pay for in-app transactions.
European regulators are hoping the changes mandated by the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, will loosen the control that Big Tech's "digital gatekeepers" have gained over the products and services that consumers and businesses use as they become more dominant forces in everyday life.
The measures are taking effect just days after EU regulators fined Apple nearly $2 billion (1.8 billion euros) for thwarting competition in the music streaming market.
Apple has lashed out at the new regulations for unnecessary security risks to iPhone users in Europe, exposing them to more scams and other malicious attacks launched from apps downloaded from outside its ecosystems and raising the specter of more unsavory services peddling pornography, illegal drugs and other content that the company has long prohibited in its App Store.
Despite trying to maintain security safeguards while also adhering to the new rules in the 27-nation bloc, Apple is warning that "the changes the DMA requires will inevitably cause a gap between the protections that Apple users outside of the EU can rely on and the protections available to users in the EU moving forward."
But some smaller tech companies such as music streaming service Spotify and video game maker Epic Games are attacking the ways Apple is complying with the DMA as little more than a facade that's making a "mockery" of the regulations' intent.
Denne historien er fra Techlife News #645-utgaven av Techlife News.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra Techlife News #645-utgaven av Techlife News.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Google's AI Model Faces European Union Scrutiny From Privacy Watchdog - European Union regulators said Thursday they're investigating one of Google's artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc's strict data privacy rules.
European Union regulators said Thursday they’re investigating one of Google’s artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules. The Irish watchdog said earlier this month that Elon Musk’s social media platform X has agreed to permanently stop processing user data for its AI chatbot Grok. The platform did so only after the watchdog took it to court the month before, filing an urgent High Court application to get X to “suspend, restrict or prohibit” processing of personal data contained in public posts by its users.
AUSTRALIA PROPOSES LEGAL MINIMUM AGE FOR CHILDREN ACCESSING SOCIAL MEDIA
The Australian government this week promised to legislate this year to enforce a minimum age for children to access social media, but it has yet to announce how ages will be verified.
SWEDEN JOINS COUNTRIES SEEKING TO END SCREEN TIME FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2
Sweden says children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to any digital screens.
EU'S TOP COURT DISMISSES APPLE'S FINAL APPEAL AGAINST ORDER TO PAY IRELAND 13B EUROS IN BACK TAXES
Apple this week lost its last bid to avoid paying 13 billion euros ($14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, in a finale to a dispute with the European Union that centered on sweetheart deals that Dublin was offering to attract multinational businesses with minimal taxes across the 27-nation bloc. The final decision by the EU’s top court was quickly hailed as a landmark victory over corporate greed.
GOOGLE AND APPLE LOSE THEIR COURT FIGHTS AGAINST THE EU AND OWE BILLIONS IN FINES AND TAXES
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
US POSTAL SERVICE SQUEEZE ON SHIPPING CONSOLIDATORS COULD RAISE CONSUMER COSTS
The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it is ending discounts that shipping consolidators such as UPS and DHL use to get packages to the nation’s doorsteps, in a move meant to help the Postal Service slow losses but that could see the higher costs passed on to consumers.
TELEGRAM CEO DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST FRENCH CHARGES IN FIRST PUBLIC COMMENTS
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform's use for criminal activity.
JAMES EARL JONES' DARTH VADER VOICE LIVES ON THROUGH AI.VOICE ACTORS SEE PROMISE AND PERIL IN THAT
Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones' voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer.
GOOGLE FACES A NEW ANTITRUST TRIAL AFTER RULING DECLARING SEARCH ENGINE A MONOPOLY
One month after a judge declared Google's search engine an illegal monopoly, the tech giant faces another antitrust lawsuit that threatens to break up the company, this time over its advertising technology.
A CAPSULE HAS BEEN PROPELLED THROUGH A HYPERLOOP TEST TUBE IN A STEP FORWARD FOR THE TRANSIT SYSTEM
Hyperloop, a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said Monday.