The Developers Alliance is disappointed by the Court’s cursory assessment of the procompetitive role Google plays as steward of the Android ecosystem.
Brussels, Belgium, Sept 14, 2022 – The Developers Alliance has released the following statement addressing the EU General Court’s decision in the Android case (T-604/18 – Google and Alphabet v Commission)
Alliance Position
– The EU Commission ignored the interests of millions of software developers who will be damaged by the Commission’s errors in this case.
– Platforms perform a critical role in maintaining procompetitive ecosystems which benefit consumers and developers alike.
– The Digital Markets Act is poised to repeat the many mistakes the Commission made in its Android assessment. We will continue to defend the rights of developers to build and profit from their innovation inside the EU.
Bruce Gustafson, CEO of the Developers Alliance, issued the following statement:
“Regulators have an important role to play when competitive markets break down and traditional market forces are unable to self correct. Where markets are creating tremendous consumer benefits, lowering consumer costs, and driving vibrant competition however, regulators must remain humble unless harms are obvious and acts are clearly unjustified.
While the Alliance’s original goal was to assist the Commission and the Court in understanding the procompetitive roles various participants play in the app ecosystem, developer interests were largely dismissed. Making matters worse, the passage of the Digital Markets Act repeats the mistakes we’ve fought to correct here. As the DMA and other tech regulations come into force, we will continue to fight for the software developer community who now face the prospect of having their businesses upended.”
We’re seeing country after country issuing fines using the same arguments. I worry there’s nothing that limits this behavior, and that in an effort to escape the regulatory extortion tech companies will begin to truly segment their business and firewall each country from the next and offer different services in each based on local laws and limits. Goodbye global internet.