The EU could start enforcing rules to regulate Big Tech in spring 2023

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president of the European Union, said at the International Competition Network conference last week that the European Union would enforce the Digital Markets Act in the spring of 2023. The antitrust legislation, which introduces a new set of rules to curb the power of Big Tech, could be implemented as early as October of this year.

The DMA will enter into force next spring and we are getting ready for enforcement as soon as the first notifications come in. The Commission will be prepared to act against any violations made by thegatekeepers, which include Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.

The Council and Parliament need to approve the final version of the DMA, which says that companies that have a market cap of over $75 billion and have at least 45 million monthly users are known as "gatekeepers". If the entities are found to be in violation of the rules, they can be fined up to 10 percent of their total worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year.

The Commission will have three months to confirm the status of the person, followed by an up to two-month wait. The wait period and delayed enforcement could mean that we won't see any real battles between the EU and Big Tech until the end of 2023.

The next chapter is exciting. It is about setting up new structures within the Commission. It is about hiring people. It is about preparing the IT systems. Further legal texts are drafted on procedures or notification forms. Our teams are busy with all the preparations and we hope to have the new structures ready soon.

If the Commission fails to address any major violations that occur between now and the time the DMA becomes law, the delay could serve as a catalyst for criticism.

The business models used by tech giants will likely be disrupted by the DMA. It could require Apple to start allowing users to download apps from outside the App Store, an idea that Apple CEO Tim is against, as he argues that side loading could destroy the security of an iPhone. It may make it harder forWhatsApp to maintain end-to-end encryption if it becomes interoperability with smaller platforms.