What you need to know
- After being named a gatekeeper last year, Microsoft recently outlined several measures to comply with the European Union's DMA regulation.
- One of the EU's requirements for the organizations listed as gatekeepers is that they make their services interoperable to promote health competition and provide consumers with a wide array of options.
- Windows 11 users can uninstall OneDrive, Edge, Bing, and pin third-party apps on the taskbar.
The European Union listed Microsoft alongside tech giants like Apple and Alphabet as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA was imposed in 2022 and is in place to foster health competition among companies in digital markets as it ensures that consumers have a wide array of options to choose from when seeking services.
Microsoft made it to the list because of its Windows, Bing, and Edge services, though it argued that Bing doesn't meet the set thresholds to be classified as a gatekeeper. The company added that making the service interoperable would place it at a competitive disadvantage against its rivals like Google. Even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted that Google doesn't play fair with Bing due to its exclusive deal with Apple, further asserting its search dominance.
After looking into the matter, the European Commission exempted Bing and Microsoft Edge from DMA regulation, citing the lack of dominance for both services in the digital markets. As you might already know, the EU gave the companies listed as gatekeepers under the DMA a grace period of six months to comply. The grace period was set to lapse in March 2024, and as it happens, we're well past this date.
Microsoft already highlighted several elaborate measures it was taking to ensure compliance with the DMA regulation. These include letting users in the European Economic Area uninstall Microsoft Edge, disable Bing in Windows Search, and turn off the Microsoft News feed and ads in the Widgets Board on Windows 11.
The tech giant has already shipped these changes to most users via the latest Windows 11 feature drop, which includes more AI features for Copilot and needed changes to the Widgets board. This means you can pin third-party apps on your taskbar and a new sign-in experience that will no longer sign users to Microsoft services like Bing and Edge.
RELATED: Start11 now ships with a new auto-hide option for the taskbar
As highlighted by Microsoft, the newly implemented changes will let you use third-party apps on Windows PCs without collecting any data to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals.
Microsoft lets users uninstall OneDrive on Windows 11
It's now possible to turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive on Windows 11 if you don't find it helpful. This news comes after Microsoft quietly published a new support document on its official website highlighting how users can uninstall OneDrive on Windows. The document outlines that users can unlink OneDrive if they need to turn it off.
The document also links to a previously published guide highlighting how to turn off OneDrive on Windows 10. According to a spot by Neowin, the document features several new additions.
First, the article features a separate section on how to unlink OneDrive. But more interestingly, the document also features a section highlighting the entire process of uninstalling OneDrive on Windows 11.
READ MORE: Microsoft killed the option to upload items to OneDrive from a URL
While Microsoft's motive behind this move remains unclear, there's a high probability that this might have something to do with the EU and its imposed DMA regulation.
LinkedIn is DMA compliant too
Microsoft also outlined new ways it is allowing users to access their data via its employment-focused social network platform, LinkedIn. The platform will now feature new APIs, allowing its users and their authorized third-party developers to access the data they provided on LinkedIn continuously.
READ MORE: Google complies with the EU's DMA regulation
LinkedIn page administrators will also be able to access the data provided on the platform, including the data generated by LinkedIn members through their engagement with pages. However, this will be determined by the user's consent settings.
Lastly, European LinkedIn business users with Marketing Solutions services can now work with independent ad verification partners to verify their ad inventory if they meet the set criteria and threshold.
