The European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, today said it launched investigations into the business practices of Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. under the new Digital Markets Act.

The Digital Markets Act, agreed to by EU legislators in 2022, went into effect on March 7. It affects messaging services, online advertising, digital store user privacy, e-commerce and how big tech companies do business. Under the regulatory framework, businesses must agree to a set of rules regarding competition, privacy and app payment guidelines.

“Today, the Commission has opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act into Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model,’” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president in charge of competition policy.

Violations of this law could result in fines up to 10% of a company’s total worldwide turnover. With repeated infringements increasing to a total of 20%. When the law went into effect, the commission named six companies as “gatekeepers,” due to their overbroad influence on social media, search and chat as used by other companies. These gatekeepers include Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon Inc., ByteDance Ltd. and Microsoft Corp.

The first two investigatory proves focus on how well Apple and Alphabet have implemented so-called “anti-steering-rules.” According to the DMA, tech businesses may not prevent developers from letting their users know about cheaper options for their apps and products off the main platform, essentially allow them to “steer” them off the platform to elsewhere.

This probe comes after earlier this month the European Commission fined Apple €1.84 billion ($2 billion) for violating the anti-steering rules of the DMA after a four year investigation into Apple’s App Store rules. EU officials said that the investigation was opened after an antitrust complaint from streaming music provider Spotify Technology SA filed in 2019.

The commission also opened an investigation Alphabet’s Google search engine practices to determine if searches “self-preference” Google’s own search services over those of rivals. This might mean that when Google search is employed, it directs users toward Google Shopping, Google Flights, Google Hotels more often than it offers up competing services. Such behavior with be a violation of DMA requirements for nondiscriminatory display.

Apple came into the sights of the commission over the ease of uninstalling applications on iOS, changing default settings on the operating system and allowing users to change services and apps shipped with phones and tablets, such as default browsers.

The commission also opened an investigation into Meta’s recently introduced “pay or consent” advertising model that it introduced for Facebook and Instagram in October. Regulators are looking into if the subscription model offering without ads making users consent for the free service violates the terms of the DMA when it comes to the question of collection of user data and privacy.

“The Commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers,” it said in a statement.

A Meta spokesperson told CNBC that subscriptions are a common business model and that the company did not believe it violated the DMA guidelines.

“Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries, and we designed Subscription for No Ads to address several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the DMA,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to engage constructively with the Commission.”

The investigations begin today and are expected to close with 12 months, the commission said, although there is no hard deadline. At the end of the investigation the regulators will inform the companies of their preliminary findings and explain the measures that must be taken in order to address the concerns.

“We have been in discussions with gatekeepers for months to help them adapt, and we can already see changes happening on the market,” said Thierry Breton, commissioner for internal market. “But we are not convinced that the solutions by Alphabet, Apple and Meta respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses. Should our investigation conclude that there is lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeepers could face heavy fines.”

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