The executives responsible for three challenging search engines — DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Qwant — have written open letter (Opens in a new tab) He worries that big tech companies will find ways to bypass new rules designed to loosen their grip on key markets.
The letter does not refer to any specific companies by name, but rather clearly targets companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple, all of which have a dominant market position in areas such as research, Browsers and operating systems.
“The European Union has taken an important first step with the adoption of the Digital Markets Act (DMA),” the trio wrote. “However, the effectiveness of EU mandates and related regulatory efforts around the world will depend on how gatekeepers implement changes to comply with these new rules.”
“Without strict adherence to both the rules and clear principles of fair selection screens and effective switching mechanisms, custodial companies can choose to circumvent their legal obligations.”
Does DMA go far enough?
Set to come into effect in the spring of 2023, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) is designed to reduce the power of so-called “tech gatekeepers”, whose location and wealth of resources are said to limit the opportunity for smaller competitors to gain market share.
The legislation includes measures to prevent gatekeepers from ranking their products higher in search results and to prevent users from uninstalling pre-loaded applications, as well as obligations to provide users with simple means to switch to alternative services.
The proposal has been widely heralded as a step in the right direction. However, there some anxiety DMA will do little to limit the ability of companies like Apple and Google to take advantage of their control of major platforms to promote their own programs and services.
To address this concern, the open letter outlines ten “Principles for Fair Selection Screens and Effective Switching Mechanisms,” with the broad goal of simplifying the shift away from virtual services.
Among other measures, the letter stresses that users should be asked periodically to confirm their preferred service, that changes should apply across all “access points” (such as browsers, digital assistants, and search tools) and that access to selection screens for competing vendors should not be restricted. Behind the auction process.
The signatories wrote: “Portal management companies should globally introduce fair selection screens and efficient conversion mechanisms now, using these principles.” “We are willing to work collaboratively to this end, while respecting users’ desire to choose the services they want to use, and not having those options selected for them by default.
Tikradar Pro I asked Google, Apple, and Microsoft to respond to these suggestions.
