As part of its market monitoring, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) examined whether selected provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) had been implemented by the deadline. The DMA aims to change access to digital markets, which are often controlled by large digital groups such as Google, Meta, Apple or Amazon, in order to promote competition and offer consumers more choice. The DMA has applied to large digital groups since March 7.
Specifically, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has carried out an initial check of the implementation of Article 6 (3) (uninstalling pre-installed software and default settings) and Article 6 (4) (installation of third-party software applications) of the DMA for Google and Apple. Further checks on compliance with the DMA by the gatekeepers, which also include Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Bytedance, are possible.
The results shows that relevant changes have not been fully implemented for Android and iPhone users. For example, no updates to Android version 13 were available for the Samsung Galaxy S20, while Apple's iOS did receive an update, but in the vzbv's view this did not include all the necessary adjustments. In order to benefit from certain provisions of the DMA, consumers must update their mobile operating systems. Depending on the settings of their device, users may have to take action themselves and install the latest operating system update.
Source: vzbv
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