Today, the Coalition for App Fairness joined 17 businesses, industry bodies, public figures and civil society organisations — including DuckDuckGo, Epic Games, Mozilla, Proton, Vivaldi and Which? — in an open letter calling on the UK Government and the Competition and Markets Authority to urgently and ambitiously enforce the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA).
More than a year after the Act came into force, key interventions in app stores, mobile browsers and search remain unimplemented. In rapidly evolving digital markets, delay is not neutral. Every month without effective enforcement allows entrenched gatekeepers to further strengthen their positions and raise barriers for challengers, developers and consumers.
The letter warns that the consequences of inaction will extend beyond today’s markets. As AI tools and services become increasingly integrated into dominant mobile ecosystems, existing market failures risk being carried directly into the next generation of digital services. Without intervention now, the same companies that dominate today’s app economy will shape the future of AI distribution, discovery and payments.
The coalition calls on the Government and CMA to urgently implement the roadmap of interventions under the DMCCA, including measures on steering and alternative app stores, provide transparent enforcement timelines, ensure the Digital Markets Unit is properly resourced, and stand firmly behind the regime Parliament passed with overwhelming cross-party support.
A competitive digital economy where apps and services compete on merit is essential to innovation, growth and consumer choice. The DMCCA gives the UK the tools to deliver that future. The priority now is enforcement.