Regulation will finally reveal the number of Apple users in the EU

Tech giants have unilaterally redefined the way we live our lives - by changing the rules of the game many of these companies have unparalleled clout over their users worldwide. Unfortunately, as hard as legislators try, regulations have consistently failed to rein in Big Tech.

At least in the US, that is. In the European Union the situation is not entirely the same. The EU has always been more cautious of Tech giants and has gone to greater lengths in its efforts to regulate them. Now, it seems, even Apple will have to play ball.

According to an article by Reuters, a number of prominent tech giants (including not only Apple, but also Meta and Alphabet, the parent companies of Facebook and Google respectively) will be required to turn over data to EU authorities and comply with stricter regulations.

More specifically, any “very large online platform” with more than 45 million users will be affected by the new law. While most companies on the list readily disclosed their number of EU users, Apple was a bit more coy.

According to the Cupertino company, only the iPhone App Store qualifies as a “very large online platform”. Nevertheless, the article by Reuters asserts that Apple will voluntarily provide data and comply with the more stringent regulation across a number of other services, including the iPad and Mac App Stores, and Apple TV amongst others.

An interesting ramification of this EU law is that we might finally get a real sense of just how popular Apple products are in a market that is not the US. Such extensive data, when made public, will give us the exact number of EU Apple users and which products they use exactly.

This might be just a form of idle curiosity in the grand scheme of things. After all, the point of this EU law is above all to limit the power of Big Tech, not merely quantify it.