‘European rule will ban tech giants from putting apps on smartphones’

A draft of the European Commission’s Digital Services Act states that large tech companies such as Google and Apple are no longer allowed to pre-install their own apps and services on their devices. They should also not force other companies to do so, says Financial Times, based on the text. The rule should prevent large tech companies from favoring their own services, Financial Times writes. The exact text is not known, but as the business paper puts it, it seems that large tech companies are no longer allowed to pre-install apps and services on smartphones and laptops. They are also not allowed to impose on other companies to only pre-install their apps. The newspaper has had access to a first version, but this pre-installation now happens a lot: after the set-up, for example, there are many Apple services on iPhones, with Android phones there are many Google services. It is unknown whether the European Commission wants to prevent manufacturers from no longer installing all apps automatically or whether it only concerns certain services. The first public version of the Digital Services Act should be released by the end of this year, not just about preinstalling apps on hardware. Large tech companies are also no longer allowed to use data without giving it to competitors. Financial Times has also seen a response from Google to the draft, in which the search giant speaks out against the new rules.