European Parliament negotiators and EU member states have agreed on a ‘landmark’ law to curb the market dominance of US tech giants.

The rules could set a global benchmark in limiting what tech firms from America can do in Europe.

Not only would the laws help to mitigate the impact of their market dominance, but also force the companies to be more innovative.

EU rules are targeting Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, five of the biggest tech companies operating globally.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google and Apple will be forced to open up their services and platforms to other businesses.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager commented: “What we want is simple: fair markets… in digital.

“Large gatekeeper platforms have prevented businesses and consumers from the benefit of competitive digital markets,” she said.

The announcement is the biggest regulatory move yet from the EU to act against what it defines as “anti-trust” or anti-competitive behaviour from mainly US technology businesses.

“The agreement ushers in a new era of tech regulation worldwide,” said German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations for the European Parliament.

Additionally, the act would force Apple to open its App Store to third-party payment options instead of users being forced to use Apple’s own payment system, an issue that has been in the news over the last few years after its high-profile court battle with Epic Games.

The company would also be forced to allow iPhone users to uninstall its Safari web browser and other company-imposed apps that users cannot currently delete.

Google will be expected to offer people who use Android-loaded smartphones alternatives to its search engine, the Google Maps app, or its Chrome browser.

The law also targets messenger apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, the App Store, Google Play. Lawmakers said they aimed to give users more choice over how people send messages.

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A spokesperson for Apple said that the company was “concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users”.

Google added: “While we support many of the DMA’s ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we’re worried that some of these rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans.”

The market dominance of big US tech has been a pressing issue for lawmakers for many years, including in the UK.

Back in 2019, the UK’s competition watchdog was said to be considering stopping the firms from sharing user data between their apps and making it tougher for them to acquire smaller rivals in a move to curb the growing problem.

In response to rising concern about the market power of Facebook and Google, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) highlighted that Silicon Valley organisations are harming competition “by creating barriers to new entrants”.

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