BY KELVIN CHAN
The European Union is targeting Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.
The six companies were classified Wednesday as online “gatekeepers” that must face the highest level of scrutiny under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
The act amounts to a list of do’s and don’ts that seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering digital markets, with the threat of whopping fines or even forcing Big Tech companies to sell of parts of their business to operate in Europe.
It’s part of a sweeping update to the EU’s digital rulebook that’s starting to take force this year, and comes weeks after a companion package of rules aimed at keeping internet users safe, the Digital Services Act, started kicking in.
“The most impactful online companies will now have
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