Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed Thursday on a landmark law to curb the market dominance of US big tech giants such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.

Meeting in Brussels the lawmakers nailed down a long list of do's and don'ts that will single out the world's most iconic web giants as internet "gatekeepers" subject to special rules.

The "Digital Markets Act" (DMA) has sped through the bloc's legislative procedures and is designed to protect consumers and give rivals a better chance to survive against the world's powerful tech juggernauts.

"The agreement ushers in a new era of tech regulation worldwide," said German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations for the European Parliament.

"The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies," he added.

The main point of the law is to avert the years of procedures and court battles needed to punish Big Tech's monopolistic behaviour where cases can end with huge fines but little change in how the giants do business.

Once implemented, the law will give Brussels unprecedented authority to keep an eye on decisions by the giants, especially when they pull out the chequebook to buy up promising startups.

"The gatekeepers -- they now have to take responsibility," said the EU's competition supremo Margrethe Vestager.

"A number of things they can do, a number of things they can't do, and that of course gives everyone a fair chance," she added.

- 'Concrete impacts' -

The law contains about 20 rules that in many cases target practices by Big Tech that have gone against the bloc's rules on competition, but which Brussels has struggled to enforce.

The DMA imposes myriad obligations on Big Tech, including forcing Apple to open up its App Store to alternative payment systems, a demand that the iPhone maker has opposed fiercely, most notably in its feud with Epic games, the maker of Fortnite.

Google will be asked to clearly offer users of Android-run smartphones alternatives to its search engine, the Google Maps app or its Chrome browser.

A Google spokesperson told AFP that the US internet giant will "take time to study the final text and work with regulators to implement it."

"While we support many of the DMA's ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we remain concerned that some of the rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans," the spokesperson said.

Apple would also be forced to loosen its grip on the iPhone, with users allowed to uninstall its Safari web browser and other company-imposed apps that users cannot currently delete.

In a statement, Apple swiftly expressed regret over the law, saying it was "concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users".

After a furious campaign by influential MEPs, the law also forces messaging services such as Meta-owned WhatsApp to make themselves available to users on other services such as Signal or Apple's iMessage, and vice-versa.

France, which holds the EU presidency and negotiated on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states, said the law would deliver "concrete impacts on the lives of European citizens".

"We are talking about the goods you buy online, the smartphone you use every day, and the services you use every day," said France's digital affairs minister, Cedric O.

- 'Comply or Challenge' -

Violation of the rules could lead to fines as high as 10 percent of a company's annual global sales and even 20 percent for repeat offenders.

The DMA "will have a profound impact on the way some gatekeepers' operations are currently conducted," said lawyer Katrin Schallenberg, a partner at Clifford Chance.

"Clearly, companies affected... are already working on ways to comply with or even challenge the regulation," she added.

The Big Tech companies have lobbied hard against the new rules and the firms have been defended in Washington, where it is alleged that the new law unfairly targets US companies.

With the deal now reached by negotiators, the DMA now faces final votes in a full session of the European Parliament as well as by ministers from the EU's 27 member states.

The rules could come into place starting on January 1, 2023, though tech companies are asking for more time to implement the law.

Five things to know about the EU's landmark digital act
Brussels (AFP) March 25, 2022 - EU lawmakers and officials have agreed the main points of a landmark piece of legislation, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), that aims to loosen the grip held by Big Tech on life online.

Here are five rules included in the law that will force the likes of Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon to change their ways.

- Save the startups -

Big tech companies make billions of dollars in profit every year and some of the windfall goes to scooping up start-ups and innovators.

This rankles authorities, who accuse the giants of using their war chests to snuff out potential rivals before they become a threat.

Under the new rules all buyouts, no matter how small, will have to be notified to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm based in Brussels.

- Messaging unity -

After multiple scandals that hit Meta-owned Facebook, many users chose to swap the giant's Messenger or WhatsApp messaging services for alternatives, such as Signal or Telegram.

Yet the market power of Meta's services remains strong, making it difficult for WhatsApp dissenters to keep messaging links with family and friends.

To solve this, the DMA imposes interoperability between messaging apps, all while demanding that communications remain encrypted from user to user.

- Fair shopping on Amazon -

Amazon is a major shopping platform for thousands of companies to sell their wares online. But suspicions are rife that the online giant abuses its role as a marketplace to better position its own products as a retailer.

The DMA will ban this conflict of interest, as well as demand that the gatekeepers share key information with business customers.

- Open the App Store -

Around the world, Apple has strenuously defended the sanctity of its App Store, barring companies from using their own payment systems or being downloaded outside the Apple store.

Despite warnings that opening up iPhones would pose a security threat, the DMA will force Apple to allow software to be downloaded and for payments to be made outside its store.

Failure to comply could carry fines in the billions of dollars -- big enough even for the world's biggest company by market value to pay attention.

Any gatekeeper platform that locks in customers to use pre-installed services, such as a web browser, mapping or weather information, will also face fines.

- Ad transparency -

Google's search engine and Meta's Facebook and Instagram are the world's biggest online advertisers, a status that critics say the companies abuse by accumulating valuable data about customers and keeping it to themselves.

The DMA will force the tech giants to reveal much more to advertisers and publishers on how their ads work and on an ad's actual effectiveness. This will make companies less beholden to Google or Facebook on understanding their customers and potentially encourage firms to get their message out in new ways.

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