Tech giants clash as EU regulation shakes up iOS browser rules
Apple is planning to make changes to its iOS browser rules — and Mozilla and Google have something to say about it. The rules are being put in place to comply with new European Union (EU) legislation, and Mozilla and Google want Apple to go further and roll out its new iOS rules worldwide.
The EU is bringing in new legislation named the Digital Markets Act (DMA), drafted to try and improve fairness and conditions for competition in the digital economy (at least as far as the EU is concerned). It became enforced on November 1, 2022 and became applicable on May 2, 2023… for the most part.What the legislation actually means for Apple
This new legislation is forcing Apple’s hand, which means Apple will have to make some pretty major changes to its EU App Store policy, as reported by Ars Technica. The DMA sets out the EU’s new demands of manufacturers like Apple concerning digital market aspects like fairness, privacy, and more. Apple specifically is being directed to allow the browser engines of Apple’s competitors and apps that use those browser engines on iOS.
A browser engine is also sometimes called a layout engine or a rendering engine, and it’s a software component that allows HTML documents (web pages, essentially) to display on the user’s device.
