Microsoft is giving its Edge web browser an unfair advantage and EU antitrust regulators should subject it to strict EU technical rules, three rival browsers and a group of web developers said in a letter to the European Commission.
The move by Vivaldi, Waterfox, Wavebox and Open Web Advocacy could boost Norwegian browser company Opera, which sued the European Commission in July over Edge’s exemption from the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The landmark DMA has set out a list of dos and don’ts for online services that are considered gateways for businesses to reach end users, with the aim of making it easier for consumers to choose between different service providers.
The companies and advocacy group said they support Opera’s challenge.
“The most important thing is for the Commission to reconsider its position,” they said in a September 17 letter seen by Reuters.
“Unfair practices are currently allowed to persist in the Windows ecosystem in relation to Edge, unmitigated by the choice screens that exist on mobile devices,” they said, pointing to Edge set as the default browser on all Windows PCs.
“No platform-independent browser can match Edge’s unparalleled distribution advantage on Windows. What’s more, Edge is the most important gateway for consumers to download an independent browser to Windows PCs.”
The commission and Microsoft declined to comment. Edge’s global market share is slightly more than 5%, while the market leader Google Chrome is 66 percent according to StatCounter.
Vivaldi, Waterfox, Wavebox and Open Web Advocacy also argued that pop-up messages on Edge mischaracterize features of competing browsers that distinguish them from Microsoft’s products.
The European Commission said in its February decision that it does not consider Edge a gatekeeper and that the DMA requires Microsoft to allow users to easily uninstall any software application.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
