Notices by Open Web Advocacy (owa@mastodon.social)

Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy 🫤 On iOS to comply with the Digital Markets Act, Apple puts the user’s chosen browser in the hotseat/dock. Google refuses to do the same on Android, leaving Chrome in the hotseat and undermining user choice.

That’s not DMA compliance!

Read our detailed analysis and see us ask Google directly at the EU DMA Workshop for Google.
https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/googles-hotseat-hypocrisy/

1/9

ensure the web's long-term stability and longevity.

The precise funding commitments from each organization are yet to be disclosed, but considering the high costs of Chromium development, we hope they are of a meaningful scale.

Read More:
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers

2/2

Open Web Advocacy has joined forces with industry associations, civil society organizations, and businesses to call on the European Commission to take urgent and decisive action in enforcing the Digital Markets Act.

Read why here:
https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/digital-markets-act--europes-digital-competitiveness-at-stake/

2/10 After over a year of investigation, the CMA agrees with what we’ve been saying:
✅ Apple’s browser engine ban stifles browser competition
✅ It blocks innovation
✅ It limits what web apps can do
✅ The ban must end

3/10 The regulator proposes clear remedies:
📌 Apple must allow third-party browser engines on iOS
📌 Browsers must be able to install and manage web apps without Safari

This is huge.

5/10 On Web Apps:
The CMA’s message is clear: Web Apps deserve to compete fairly.

4/10 Apple’s usual excuse? “Security”
The CMA didn’t buy it:
🔎 Chrome, Firefox, and other major browsers meet high security standards
🔎 Apple can share hardware security APIs like Pointer Authentication Codes
🔎 Safari’s “security edge” is not backed by the available evidence

8/10 What happens next?
✅ Apple and Google will face a Strategic Market Status (SMS) designation
✅ Binding rules are coming — including lifting the engine ban
✅ The designation will happen within 9 months

9/10 This is historic.
The 🇬🇧UK joins the 🇪🇺EU and 🇯🇵Japan in forcing open competition on iOS.

The web will finally be free to compete head-to-head with native apps.
The open web can win. Let’s make sure it does. 🌍🔥

— Open Web Advocacy (@openwebadvocacy)

6/10 Astonishingly, Apple has been also paying Google for Google traffic in iOS Chrome.
🔎 The CMA believes this undermines Google's and Apple's incentives to compete
✅ The CMA seeks to end this practice

7/10 Sadly, the regulator disagreed that:
❌ Google should share WebAPK minting on Android
❌ Apple/Google/Meta should be forced to respect user's default browser choice for in-app browsers (or at a minimum, ask permission to override)

We’ll keep fighting for these under the DMCC.

Alex Moore from Open Web Advocacy joins Joe on Late Night Linux to unpack the DOJ’s case against Google, what’s promising, what’s risky, and why protecting web and platform funding is critical for the open internet.

🎧 https://latenightlinux.com/late-night-linux-episode-333/

🚨 New Article: Industry Voices Caution Against DOJ’s Plan to Force Sale Of Chrome

⭐️We support the DOJ’s goal of ending Google’s monopoly⭐️ but we along with many voices from across the tech industry are concerned about collateral damage to the web

Read: https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/industry-voices-caution-against-dojs-plan-to-force-sale-of-chrome/

1/n

The DOJ can meet its goals without harming the web by:
✅ Ending Google’s Apple search deal
✅ Capping default share to 50% per browser
✅ Carving out protections for smaller browsers
✅ Require Google to reinvest 90% of search revenue into browsers and the web
✅ Spin off Chrome as an Alphabet subsidiary
✅ Cap Chrome’s default search share at 50%, auction the rest
✅ Enforce transparency and fairness in all search deals

5/n

However, we’re concerned that if the DOJ goes too far, particularly by forcing a sale of Chrome and banning search deals with smaller browser vendors like Mozilla, it will do lasting harm to the web platform, including an estimated 70% drop in web platform investment.

4/n

And we agree! A hollow win that leaves Google’s monopoly intact is not beneficial to either US consumers or businesses, and Google’s counter-proposals will not fix the underlying problem: that Google held and abused its monopoly in search.

3/n

"Your honor, we are not here for a Pyrrhic victory. This is the time for the court to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening — and they are listening — that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws."
David Dahlquist - DOJ Lawyer

2/n

Open Web Advocacy is on the ground at the European Commission's 2025 DMA workshop 🇪🇺, pushing hard for real browser competition, web apps and a free & open web. Stay tuned for updates!

🚨 New Article: Is It Worth Killing Mozilla to Shave Off Less Than 1% From Google’s Market Share?

The DOJ is seeking to cancel all of Google's revenue-sharing deals with browser vendors. 🧵

✅ We agree the Apple-Google deal should be cancelled.

⚠️ But we're concerned about the impact on smaller browsers — especially Mozilla.

💰 Google currently pays Mozilla about $410–$420 million per year.

👉 https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/is-it-worth-killing-mozilla-to-shave-off-less-than-1-percent-from-googles-market-share

1/10 🚨 The 🇬🇧UK regulator’s final report is out and it’s clear: Apple’s browser engine ban harms competition.

Forcing all iOS browsers to use WebKit hurts developers, users, and the web itself.

Change is coming. 🧵

https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/uk-regulators-final-verdict--apples-browser-engine-ban-harms-competition/

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Opera have pledged their support for a new initiative under the Linux Foundation called the "Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers" development fund.

The fund aims to promote open development within the Chromium project. It is vital for the future of the web that Chromium's development moves beyond being predominantly funded by Google, fostering diverse contributions, enhancing trust, and reducing dependency on a single organization to

1/2

The Browser Choice Alliance launches today, championing consumer rights around desktop browser choice and respect for default settings; values that strongly align with OWA's mission.

https://browserchoicealliance.org/

Breaking, CMA Provisional Report Just Released:

"Apple’s rules appear to be holding back a category of apps known as ‘progressive web apps’ (PWAs) that are lower cost and easier for developers to build since they can run on any operating system"

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673f2d334ebce30ac7baf035/Summary_of_provisional_decision.pdf