Finance
Alphabet hit with EU antitrust complaint by six digital rights groups
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Alphabet faces an EU antitrust complaint from digital rights groups over alleged non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act, focusing on app uninstallation.
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet was targeted with an EU antitrust complaint from six human and digital rights groups on Thursday which urged EU regulators to investigate whether the tech giant complies with legislation requiring it to make it easier for users to uninstall software apps.
The EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which took effect two years ago, sets out a list of dos and don'ts for seven Big Tech companies including Alphabet unit Google, in an attempt to curb their power and give rivals more room and users more choice.
British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), Gesellschaft fur Freiheitsrechte (GFF), Homo Digitalis, and Vrijschrift.org. said Alphabet allegedly has not complied with the DMA.
They said the alleged violation concerned a DMA requirement that gatekeepers or companies which provide a core platform service to business users, shall technically enable users to easily uninstall software applications on the gatekeeper's operating system.
"Alphabet has designed its Core Platform Service Android in a way to hide from end users the possibility to disable its own pre-installed gatekeeper apps," they said in their complaint.
"What is more, Alphabet goes to great length to scare away end users who have found that possibility against all odds of actually disabling Google's pre-installed apps," they said.
The group called on the European Commission to investigate the issue.
Alphabet refuted the allegations.
"It is easy to uninstall apps on Android devices, so this complaint does not represent a genuine user concern. Other regulators, including the CMA, have previously dismissed this complaint," a Google spokesperson said.
The CMA is the British competition watchdog.
The Commission confirmed receipt of the complaint, saying it is currently assessing it under its standard procedures.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
An antitrust complaint is a legal action taken against a company for practices that restrict competition or create monopolies, violating antitrust laws.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a European regulation aimed at ensuring fair competition in the digital market by imposing obligations on major tech companies.
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, and upholding EU treaties.
Gatekeepers are large tech companies that provide core platform services and are subject to specific regulations under the Digital Markets Act.
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