YOU could soon send iMessages straight to your mates on WhatsApp under new EU rules proposed on Thursday.
The law aims to curb the power of tech titans such as Apple and Facebook-owner Meta by forcing them to integrate their services.
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If passed, it would require messaging apps like WhatsApp to make themselves available to rival platforms.
That means you could send a WhatsApp text to someone on Signal, or a Telegram message to a friend on Facebook Messenger.
Currently, if you want to contact someone on any of those services, you can only do so through their relevant apps.
The new rule, which is part of sweeping changes proposed in the Digital Markets Act, still has to be approved by the European Parliament and is not expected to be implemented until 2023,.
According to an EU statement on the law: “The largest messaging services (such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request.
“Users of small or big platforms would then be able to exchange messages, send files or make video calls across messaging apps, thus giving them more choice.
“As regards interoperability obligation for social networks, co-legislators agreed that such interoperability provisions will be assessed in the future.”
If the rules are approved, it would mark a huge change for tech giants, which the EU branded internet “gatekeepers”.
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Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states announced the agreement late on Thursday.
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 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.
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 DMA imposes myriad obligations on Big Tech, including forcing Apple to open up its App Store to alternative payment systems.
It’s 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”.
The main point of the law is to avert the years of procedures and court battles needed to punish Big Tech’s monopolistic behaviour.
Cases can otherwise end with huge fines but little change in how the giants do business.
“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.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
