The EU Parliament today adopted the ‘Digital Markets Act’, new rules that will empower consumers to easily choose and enjoy independent web browsers. We welcome the new pro-competition approach and call for a comprehensive designation of the full range of Big Tech gatekeepers to ensure the legislation contributes to a fairer and more competitive European digital market.
The DMA will grant consumers more freedom to choose what software they wish to use, while creating the conditions for independent developers to compete fairly with Big Tech. In particular, we see immense benefit in empowering consumer choice through prohibitions that tackle manipulative software designs and introduce safeguards that allow consumers to simply and easily try new apps, delete unwanted apps, switch between apps, change app defaults, and to expect similar functionality and use.
“The browser is a unique piece of software that represents people online. It is a tool that allows individuals to exercise choices about what they do and what happens to them as the navigate across the web. But like other independent web browsers, Mozilla has been harmed by unfair business practices that take away consumer choice, for instance when gatekeepers make it effectively impossible for consumers to enable and keep Firefox as their default web browser, or when they erect artificial operating system barriers that mean we can’t even offer consumers the choice of a privacy- and security-first browser. Ensuring that gatekeepers allocate enough resources to fully and transparently comply with the DMA is the first step towards a more open web and increased competition, allowing users to easily install and keep Firefox as their preferred browser on both desktop and mobile” – added Owen Bennett, Mozilla Senior Policy Manager.
To make the DMA’s promise a reality, swift and effective enforcement of the new law is required. It’s essential that all gatekeepers – and their core platform services – are identified and designated as soon as possible. This is the first test for the European Commission’s enforcement approach, and regulators must set down a marker that Europe means business.
We look forward to contributing to remedies that can ensure independent browsers can compete and offer consumers meaningful choices.