UK says Apple hampers browser development, but animals out of imposing rules

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority wants Apple to let rivals like Facebook to provide sites on phone, but passes the penny on doing anything about it. &# 13, Back in November 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA ) in the UK released a preliminary report saying that Apple blocks developers ‘ ability to offer innovation in the browser market. Apple responded by saying the CMA was giving too much fat to the self-interest claims from its competitors. &# 13, Now the CMA has released its full report which chiefly ignores Apple’s position on visiting. The CMA’s initial investigation was even into the region of cloud games, but the regulator says Apple’s latest rule changes have satisfied its concerns. &# 13, Apple has likewise changed its position on Democratic Web Apps, but in this situation the CMA claims the company also blocks or limitations them. &# 13, Total, the CMA’s results concentrate on Apple’s requirement for all third-party computers to use WebKit — although that is no longer accurate within the EU. The CMA’s assumption is that rival sites should have access to the same technologies as Apple creates for its Safari browser, and particularly that users are being denied the creativity those rivals may bring. &# 13,” Meta told us that it wants to build an in-app website using its own computer website on iOS that it could tweak completely to create in-app browsing experience”, says the report. ” According to Meta, this would allow it to develop new features that could improve user experience, security and performance” .&# 13, A Meta browser within Facebook, however, would circumvent all of Apple’s privacy controls. These are the controls that when introduced in 2022, protect user privacy to such a degree that Facebook took a$ 10 billion revenue hit. &# 13, It’s particularly concerning that the CMA took this at face value because of what else the report says about visiting. ” Whether they know it or not, customers also get a significant number of web content through’ in-app browsers ‘”, it says. &# 13,” While their presence is unknown to most consumers”, says the CMA, “browser engines largely determine how fast and smoothly a browser runs, the levels of privacy the user has and the degree of security from malicious attacks while doing so” .&# 13, So the CMA is conscious that browsers require security, and also that users will not necessarily know when an in-app browser circumvents Apple’s privacy rules and exposes their private data. But it still accepts the state that Meta just wants to develop for the benefit of its customers. &# 13, The CMA also accepts Microsoft, Mozilla, and Vivaldi’s claims that they want to offer additional security and privacy features that WebKit blocks. &# 13,” We accept]Apple’s position ] that the current restriction does reduce the risk of third-party browsers on iOS using outdated, vulnerable engines or implementing insecure new features”, says the report. ” However, we consider that the risks could be managed in other ways which would not involve a complete ban on other browser engines as is currently the case, eg by Apple imposing minimum security standards on mobile browsers using browser engines other than WebKit” .&# 13, The CMA’s report does offer similar criticisms of Google, but references Apple roughly twice as much. ( “Apple” is mentioned 87 times compared to 47 for” Google”. Then “iOS” gets 48 mentions while” Android” gets 26 .) &# 13, So the report is mostly focused on how Apple is reportedly blocking development, and thus it has some violent opinions. But the CMA is also not going to do anything about this, at least not at existing and not in the bank’s present form. &# 13, Nothing happens next. According to the CMA’s individual calendar, this last statement on March 12, 2025, was to be followed by the legal deadline of March 16, but no laws will now be made at all. &# 13, This is because the CMA says that” we concluded that if implemented through the remedy-making powers available to us in this market investigation, there would be a number of significant risks to the effectiveness of these measures” .&# 13, The report does not say what those risks are. It says rather that while its exploration was continued, the CMA itself was granted fresh forces under the Digital Markets, Contest and Users Act 2024. &# 13, These are the new powers that allow the CMA” to designate firms as having’ strategic market status’ ( SMS)… and impose forward-looking requirements to guide]their ] conduct”. These power came into effect on January 1, 2025, and as part of that, the CMA is then investigating whether it can visit Apple or Google an SMS company. &# 13, But this review by the CMA has suggestions for what Apple may be forced to do, but is kicking that choice down the road. &# 13, The CMA is actually waiting on the CMA.