Overview

• On Sept. 23, the European Commission sent formal DSA information requests to the four companies seeking evidence of how they detect, prevent and mitigate online financial scams across apps, search results, links and ads.
• The inquiries target Apple’s App Store and Google Play over fake banking or investment apps, Microsoft’s Bing and Google Search over links and advertising that can lead to fraudulent sites, and Booking’s platform for scam controls.
• Officials asked for detailed risk assessments, the measures used to reduce consumer exposure to fraud, and how Apple, Google and Booking verify the identities of businesses on their services.
• Microsoft said it will continue engaging with the Commission, Google said it will review the request, Booking said it will cooperate, and the Financial Times reported Apple said it has expanded anti-fraud efforts and called the EU move misguided.
• The action enforces DSA obligations on very large platforms as U.S. tech firms criticize the law as overreaching and President Donald Trump threatens retaliatory measures.