Google & Apple have 'vice-like' grip on users, says UK regulator

The regulator said it had provisionally found that the two groups were able to leverage their market power to create largely self-contained ecosystems

Google and Apple hold a “vice-like” grip over how people use mobile phones, stripping any meaningful choice from the system and potentially hiking costs, Britain’s competition regulator said on Tuesday.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had provisionally found that the two groups were able to leverage their market power to create largely self-contained ecosystems.

The statement is a fresh warning to tech groups after the regulator, with British government backing, stepped up scrutiny of the power they wield in a world increasingly lived online.

It recently told Facebook owner Meta it had to sell Giphy, the popular animated images platform