Google Details How it Will Comply with the EU DMA

With the Digital Markets Act (DMA) deadline looming, Google has detailed how it will make its gatekeeper products and services comply.

“The changes that we have made are the result of intensive work over many months from engineers, researchers, product managers, and product designers from across the company,” Google director of competition Oliver Bethell writes in the announcement post. “Throughout this process, we have engaged extensively with the European Commission, industry stakeholders, and consumer associations, including through dozens of workshops, events, and direct discussions.”

Taking a less belligerent stance than Apple, Google notes that the requirements of the DMA necessitated trade-offs that will change the behavior of its offerings by routing more traffic to third parties. But, more specifically, Google has called out the following behavioral changes it’s making:

Search. Google’s core product offering is getting over 20 changes in the European Economic Area (EEA). Key among them, users will see “chips”—what I think of as tiles or panes—that highlight so-called companion sites—i.e. what many users were looking for in the first place—instead of a curated list of results in which Google and paying partners get preferential placement. It has removed some Google-specific content, like Google Flights.

Choice screens. Users on Android and Chrome will now be able to easily change their default search engine or browser using “additional choice screens” that are research, testing, and feedback. On Android, these screens appear when you first set up the device. In Chrome, it appears on first run (including on iOS).

Google services consent. Users will see additional consent screens to help them understand and configure their privacy settings. Key among these changes: Google will no longer automatically share data across its products and services to seed its advertising empire with users’ personal data. Instead, users will need to link their data between Google’s offerings explicitly, and they will see new consent banners when they use a service for the first time.

Third-party app stores. Like Apple, Google is required to open up its dominant mobile platform to third-party app stores and apps. But unlike Apple, Google already implemented this change in a non-controversial way: Android has always supported side-loading, and Android 14 makes it easier than ever for third parties to implement their own app stores on the platform.

Alternative billing systems. Like Apple, Google is also required to let developers use third-party payment and billing systems. And like Apple, Google’s offers a system by which developers can use third-party billing systems but still pay a 12 percent or 27 percent (vs. 15 or 30 percent) “service fee,” which is, of course, unfair and ridiculous. Google also allows a user-choice billing (UCB) system by which developers can present Google Play and third-party billing options side-by-side and so users can choose.

External offers. Google already allows developers to direct their own users outside of their apps to websites where they can learn about lower-cost options on rival app stores or the web. But it will now let them do so more directly, so that apps downloaded from Google Play can lead users to offers and information outside the app more naturally.

“We have approached compliance with transparency and meaningful product changes, even where we have concerns that some rules will reduce the choices available to people and businesses in Europe,” Bethell concludes. “We do believe that consistent interpretation and enforcement of these new rules across all the designated companies will be critical in ensuring a level playing field for European businesses and consumers in the future.”

Overall, Google’s changes seem less belligerent than Apple’s on the surface, but there are clearly some problematic issues there, most notably the unfair and non-sensical “service fee” it will continue to charge. I suspect regulators in the EU will have something to say about that, hopefully soon.