The EU has been busy with new litigation against Silicon Valley titans Microsoft and Apple.

On Monday, the bloc filed charges against Apple for allegedly using unfair, anti-competition practices in its app store. The charges were the first time a company has been prosecuted under the 2022 Digital Markets Act.

According to the New York Times, the charges are still preliminary and Apple has time to respond.

“The European Commission would like Apple to open its ecosystem, and Apple is saying no way,” Tommaso Valletti, a former economist for the European Commission, told the Times. “Apple is basically saying, ‘See you in court.’”

In fact, Apple said in a statement, "“Throughout the past several months, Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the D.M.A. in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission. …We are confident our plan complies with the law.”

Not a day later, on Tuesday, EU regulators charged Microsoft with breaking antitrust rules with its Teams product.

"Regulators said Microsoft’s packaging of Teams with other well-established software tools in Office 365 and Microsoft 365, which includes programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, amounted to an illegal abuse of market dominance that rival companies like Zoom and Slack could not match," reports the Times. In other words, for businesses, there's no real other choice but Teams.

Should the EU investigation continue and find Microsoft in violation, the company could be charged a fine of some $211 billion.

“Having unbundled Teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns," Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote in a statement according to CNN.

But not all of Silicon Valley is behind Apple and Microsoft. A representative for Salesforce said the EU's actions are "a win for customer choice and an affirmation that Microsoft practices with Teams have harmed competition."

The DOJ

The EU is not the only jurisdiction going after Apple and it's alleged monopoly over the App Store. In June, 4 states joined a civil antitrust lawsuit brought by the DOJ in March against the iPhone maker. Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington added their states to 15 others and the District of Columbia, who contend that Apple is "monopolizing multiple smartphone markets in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act." The suit was filed in the District of New Jersey.

THE VERDICT:

The era of reigning in Big Tech has upon us for some years now, but it seems like the EU is the first mover, rather than the US. These lawsuits are no surprise to the companies they affect, but their contingency plans for various outcomes remain unclear.

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