Apple, Google face potential investigation over mobile browser dominance

Britain's Competition and Market Authority on Friday suggested investigating Apple and Google over their dominance of mobile web browsers. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Britain's Competition and Market Authority on Friday suggested investigating Apple and Google over their dominance of mobile web browsers. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- An independent inquiry group in the British Competition and Markets Authority on Friday recommended an investigation into Apple and Google over their dominance of mobile web browsers and apps in the country.

The group said that the tech giants should be probed under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act for their "anti-competitive behavior" in the digital marketplace.

The Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act is roughly the British equivalent of the European Union's Digital Markets Act, which gives the bloc the power to monitor large tech companies to make sure they are playing fairly and not trying to squeeze out smaller competitors.

"Most concerns that have been identified relate to Apple's policies that determine how mobile browsers, which are the way we access the web on mobile, work on Apple devices," the CMA said in a statement.

"The group has provisionally found that Apple's rules restrict other competitors from being able to deliver new, innovative features that could benefit consumers."

The CMA group report also examined the way users are presented with choices about what browsers they use. The group accused Apple and Google of manipulating the choices to make their own browsers the clear and easiest-to-use options.

"The group has provisionally decided that an effective and comprehensive means of addressing its provisional findings is to recommend that the CMA board prioritizes investigating Apple's and Google's activities in mobile ecosystems under new digital markets competition rules coming into force next year," the CMA said.

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