Google & Apple have 'vice-like' grip on users, says UK regulator

The regulator said it had provisionally found that the two groups were able to leverage their market power to create largely self-contained ecosystems

Google and Apple hold a “vice-like” grip over how people use mobile phones, stripping any meaningful choice from the system and potentially hiking costs, Britain’s competition regulator said on Tuesday.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had provisionally found that the two groups were able to leverage their market power to create largely self-contained ecosystems.

The statement is a fresh warning to tech groups after the regulator, with British government backing, stepped up scrutiny of the power they wield in a world increasingly lived online.

It recently told Facebook owner Meta it had to sell Giphy, the popular animated images platform it bought in 2020.

The regulator said on Tuesday it would consult on its initial Apple and Google findings and would welcome responses by February 7. It expects to issue a final report by June.

“Apple and Google have developed a vice-like grip over how we use mobile phones and we’re concerned that it’s causing millions of people across the UK to lose out,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said.

Chris Philp, the tech and digital economy minister, said Britain’s “new pro-competition regime” would level the playing field between tech giants and smaller businesses.

Apple says its ecosystems provide security and privacy, enabling businesses to sell goods and create jobs. “Apple believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish,” it said.

Google said Android provided people with more choice than any other mobile platform in deciding which apps and app stores they use.

It said its ecosystem supported almost a quarter of a million jobs in Britain, and as a result of recent changes, 99 per cent of developers qualified for a service fee of 15 per cent or less.

“We’re committed to building thriving, open platforms that empower consumers and help developers succeed,” it said.

The CMA’s report set out a range of options , including making it easier for users to switch between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android phones without losing functionality or data.

Hold Google, Meta accountable for ads, lawmakers tell UK

Google, Facebook and other online services should be held legally accountable for advertisements on their platforms in order to prevent fraudsters scamming millions of consumers, a cross-party group of British lawmakers has said.

Britain has proposed a landmark online safety law to punish abuses such as child pornography, racism and violence against women, but a joint committee of lawmakers drawn from both houses of parliament said on Tuesday it should go a step further to cover paid-for adverts.

“Excluding paid-for advertising will leave service providers with little incentive to remove harmful adverts, and risks encouraging further proliferation of such content,” the joint committee report said.

The Financial Conduct Authority also wants adverts on social media and search engines, currently excluded from the draft law, to be included after 754 million pounds ($999.65 million) was stolen from consumers in the first six months of this year.

The report also backed a Law Commission recommendation to make cyberflashing, or the unsolicited sending of obscene images or video recordings, which are often a feature of sexual harassment, illegal. (Reuters)