Six digital rights groups have filed an antitrust complaint against Alphabet in the EU

Alphabet is under scrutiny in the EU after six human and digital rights organizations filed an antitrust complaint against the company.

The complaint urges regulators to investigate whether Alphabet violates the Digital Markets Act (DMA), specifically regarding user-friendly procedures for uninstalling apps.

Six human and digital rights groups accuse Alphabet of violating DMA’s rules

The DMA is one of the EU’s laws that is set for tech companies. It was initiated in 2023 and currently supervises seven tech companies. Among them is Alphabet’s Google. The law’s role is to ensure fairness in tech competitions by setting guidelines that firms must follow in their daily operation.

To achieve fair competition, the DMA restricts the seven tech giants from exercising power over other tech firms in the ecosystem. Additionally, it offers consumer protection as it allows users to make their own choices.

The six human and digital rights organizations accused Alphabet of violating the DMA laws. The group includes the representatives of the British human rights organization ARTICLE 19, as well as European Digital Rights (EDRi), Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), Homo Digitalis, and Vrijschrift. Org.

Based on the group’s explanation, the tech company violated a DMA rule that mandated gatekeepers or firms offering key service platforms to business clients to allow them to uninstall software apps easily from the gatekeeper’s operating system. 

In the Alphabet case, the tech company was accused of creating its Core Platform Service Android complex for users, as it hid the uninstall option for Google’s pre-installed apps. 

Moreover, when the users confronted the tech giant seeking guidelines for the uninstall process, it is believed that Alphabet discouraged them from proceeding with this motive. After stating these claims, the group argued with the EU regulators to investigate the matter.

Respondingly, Alphabet claimed that the accusations were false. According to a Google representative, an app uninstall process on Android gadgets was easy, hence the complaint against them failed to present a real challenge for users. The representative further stated that they had faced a similar complaint earlier, but considering the situation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) dropped the charges.

In the meantime, the EU Commission stated that it has received the complaint and will follow the required regulatory steps to assess it.

Independent publishers sue Alphabet’s Google due to its AI Overviews

Still, this month, Alphabet’s Google also faced an EU antitrust complaint from independent publishers who alleged that the tech company’s AI Overviews resulted in serious damages that have greatly affected them. They called on the regulator to stop this and prevent further damage.

Google’s AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear above standard links to similar websites. The summaries have been made available in more than 100 countries. Google recently made developments on these AI overviews, which include the inclusion of ads.

Google’s decision to add AI to its search function has raised controversy among individuals, especially publishers. The decision is considered a big risk.

Concerning the publisher’s complaint on Google, the Independent Publishers Alliance document released on June 30 highlighted that the tech giant misused its control in the online search market. 

According to the document, Google’s core search engine misuses web content for its AI overviews in Google Search. It adds that this practice has caused, and continues to cause, significant harm to publishers—including news outlets—through traffic, readership, and revenue losses.

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