Ten tech companies are starting a Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems, or CODE. This includes Google, Meta and Qualcomm. The companies are doing this in response to the European Digital Markets Act, which they will implement in their services.
CODE says it wants to promote open platforms and systems ‘to stimulate growth and innovation in Europe’, writes Reuters news agency. The group says it will work with academics, policymakers and other companies. CODE will therefore work on ‘digital openness’ and how this can be achieved in Europe ‘through implementation of the DMA and future developments of [Europese wetgeving]’.
The group says it wants to open up digital ecosystems through “cross-industry collaborations” and promote “seamless connectivity and interoperable systems,” Reuters writes. It is not yet clear exactly how this will take shape. CODE includes tech giants Google and Meta, in addition to Qualcomm, Lenovo, Motorola, Nothing, Honor, Opera, French AR start-up Lynx and German messaging service Wire.
The coalition was set up in response to the Digital Markets Act, which will expose tech giants to stricter competition rules. These ‘gatekeepers’ must be more open towards competing services. Small companies must therefore compete better with tech giants, specifically Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance.
Of these six ‘gatekeepers’, only Google and Meta have so far joined CODE. Those two companies fall under the DMA with different services. In the case of Meta, this includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The DMA affects eight different Google services, including Google Chrome, Play, Search and Android.