The EU is preparing to introduce new rules that could limit the rules imposed by Apple on alternative web browsers for iOS, a new leak suggests.
Although the European Union unveiled the Digital Services Law, the latest attempt to regulate the provision of online services, earlier this month, the final text of the bill has yet to be made public.
However, according to a leaked first draft seen by MacRumors and The Register, EU regulators have Apple in their sights, along with players like Google and Meta.
Specifically, the EU plans to force Apple to allow third parties to bypass WebKit, the default engine for all browsers on the iOS platform.
“Article 5, point (e) has been expanded to cover cases where the gatekeeper requires professional users to offer or interact with a web browser engine,” attorney Damien Geradin wrote in a blog post.
"This is most likely to address Apple's policy requiring all browsers running on iOS to use Apple's WebKit browser engine - a policy the UK CMA recently discovered may have restricted web application development, Between others."
no one is sure
Along with the Digital Markets Act, the EU plans to enforce fairly strict laws on digital services and platforms with the DSA, including content moderation, algorithmic transparency, misinformation, and more.
While the DMA clearly covers Apple, the DSA focuses on those that provide online services, which are not traditionally associated with the company (beyond cloud storage).
However, the EU decision has the potential to change how browsers work on iOS, according to web legend Alex Russell, who has worked on Chrome and Edge.
“The potential for a capable web has all but been extinguished on mobile because Apple has successfully prevented it so far,” Russell told The Register. "Businesses and services will be able to avoid creating 'apps' entirely when enough users have capable browsers."
Whether the proposals will be successful remains to be seen; you can imagine how fiercely Apple will fight these rules, given its longstanding opposition to any changes to its App Store fees.
But it's certainly interesting that the EU widens its net enough to shock the tech monolith and weaken its position in another area of iOS.