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Open Web Advocacy

@open-web-advocacy.org
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Developers fighting self-serving restrictions imposed on the web by tech giants. Help us end #AppleBrowserBan & make web apps 1st-class. open-web-advocacy.org

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London Web Standards @londonwebstandards.org · 28/09/2026
This Thursday we partner with our friends from @open-web-advocacy.org Get your tickets to join the conversation/fight for a fairer web londonwebstandards.org/events/lws-o...
londonwebstandards.org
Meet Open Web Advocacy | London Web Standards
Meet the contributors from Open Web Advocacy, there will be a few talks by their members giving updates on the work they are doing to help make the web a better place for all.
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Reposted by Open Web Advocacy
London Web Standards @londonwebstandards.org · 25/09/2026
Our friends from @open-web-advocacy.org have now added a 4th speaker to next week's event #KushAmlani londonwebstandards.org/talks/regula... Tickets are free and here - londonwebstandards.org/events/lws-o...
londonwebstandards.org
Regulatory Opportunities for Better Browser Competition | London Web Standards
Stitching together the global picture of regulation and litigation: as many countries raise concerns about competition in digital markets, regulatory opportunities arise for better interoperability fo...
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Reposted by Open Web Advocacy
Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 22/09/2026
🇬🇧 OWA is having a special meetup in London on the 1st of October 2026 together with London Web Standards. 🌐 Join us for talks on browser competition, web apps, browser choice and data portability followed by Q&A and a chance to meet people from OWA and others working on these issues. 🔗 More info:
open-web-advocacy.org
London Web Standards OWA Meetup - Open Web Advocacy
We’re having an OWA meetup in London on 1 October 2026, from 19:00–21:00 BST, together with London Web Standards.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 22/09/2026
🎟️ Book here: londonwebstandards.org/events/lws-o...
londonwebstandards.org
Meet Open Web Advocacy | London Web Standards
Meet the contributors from Open Web Advocacy, there will be a few talks by their members giving updates on the work they are doing to help make the web a better place for all.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 22/09/2026
🇬🇧 OWA is having a special meetup in London on the 1st of October 2026 together with London Web Standards. 🌐 Join us for talks on browser competition, web apps, browser choice and data portability followed by Q&A and a chance to meet people from OWA and others working on these issues. 🔗 More info:
open-web-advocacy.org
London Web Standards OWA Meetup - Open Web Advocacy
We’re having an OWA meetup in London on 1 October 2026, from 19:00–21:00 BST, together with London Web Standards.
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Reposted by Open Web Advocacy
Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
At @vivaldi.com we want the web to be the application platform of choice. So to make PWAs more "native" on Android, I filed an interoperability request with Google under DMA article 6(7) to make WebAPK minting available to all browsers. issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/5...
issuetracker.google.com
Google Issue Tracker
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 31/07/2026
🎙️ Check out Bruce Lawson’s interview with Alex Moore, executive director and co-founder of Open Web Advocacy. They explore OWA’s history, why it exists, and what it’s fighting for: a better, more competitive web 🌐✊ open-web-advocacy.org/blog/bruce-l...
open-web-advocacy.org
Bruce Lawson Interviews OWA: For A Better Web - Open Web Advocacy
Check out Bruce Lawson’s interview with Alex Moore, executive director and co-founder of Open Web Advocacy. They run through the history of OWA, why OWA exists…
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
日本語でもご覧いただけます: 🧵(7/7) open-web-advocacy.org/ja/blog/28-p...
open-web-advocacy.org
28%高速化: AppleのiOSブラウザエンジン禁止措置を終わらせるべき理由を示すBlinkプロトタイプ - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
Our analysis: 🧵(6/7) open-web-advocacy.org/blog/28-perc...
open-web-advocacy.org
28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
MacRumors’ coverage: 🧵(5/7) www.macrumors.com/2026/06/17/w...
macrumors.com
Apple's WebKit Rules Reportedly Cost iOS Users Almost 30% Browser Performance
Microsoft engineers have published benchmark results showing that a Chromium-based browser using its own rendering engine scores 28.6% higher than Safari on Apple's own Speedometer 3.1 performance tes...
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
Also see the Register's coverage: 🧵(4/7) www.theregister.com/software/202...
theregister.com
Apple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says Microsoft
Rival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
"But while it hawks “privacy” to consumers, to regulators across the world Apple cites “security” as the reason it should be allowed to maintain its iOS browser engine monopoly. On security, too, the CMA found Apple’s claims to be weak" 🧵(3/7)
Evidence also indicates that all the major browser engines take a stringent approach to testing for and fixing security vulnerabilities. Apple’s submissions that it is the only browser engine developer that could be trusted to perform this function on iOS therefore seems weak.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
"Since about 2020, Apple has emphasised Privacy and speed in its marketing materials. In its market investigation, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wrote in its paper The requirement for browsers operating on iOS devices to use Apple’s WebKit browser engine" 🧵(2/7)
Overall, we have not to date seen clear evidence that the WebKit restriction improves privacy on iOS devices.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 25/06/2026
"Apple’s claims for WebKit’s superior speed, privacy and security don’t stand up to scrutiny. It’s time for the regulators to strike down Apple’s restrictive terms and conditions, and compel Cupertino to fix BrowserEngineKit, so we can have genuine competition on iOS." 🧵👇️ (1/7) 📖Read more:
brucelawson.co.uk
Bruce Lawson's personal site
» “Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly Private.” – O RLY!?!?
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Reposted by Open Web Advocacy
Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Newly published tests show a Chromium/Blink engine running on iOS is 28.6% faster than Safari in Speedometer page responsiveness tests. 🏎️💨📱⚡️ This is a clear example of the costs Apple imposes on consumers and businesses, costs created by its 17-year ban on competing browser engines. 🧵👇️ (1/8)
open-web-advocacy.org
28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 20/06/2026
We don’t have any stats unfortunately as we have no way to test since the browser ban is still in effect. Battery life is a key competitive metric that Apple could use to actually compete but the reality is they’d rather just ban the competition and not compete at all.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Given that Apple has now had more than two years to produce a compliant solution, the European Commission needs to open a specification proceeding to instruct Apple, in precise terms, how these barriers must be removed. This is the most critical intervention the EU could possibly make. 🧵(8/8)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Even in the EU and Japan where Apple is now legally required to allow browser vendors to use their own engines, the barriers it has put in place ensure browser vendors are prevented from porting their own engines to iOS. 📖Read more: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/apples-... 🧵(7/8)
open-web-advocacy.org
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Apple is setting a ceiling on the entire mobile web. This harms the web’s performance, features and security. 🧵(6/8)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
As you can see from the chart below, while there have been improvements, Safari lags significantly behind Edge, Chrome and Firefox. See: microsoftedge.github.io/TopDeveloper... 🧵(5/8)
Line chart showing browser test progress from July 2025 to May 2026, measured as the sum of passed WPT subtests and test262 tests. Safari, shown in purple, remains far behind the other browsers throughout the period, starting around 1,500 passed tests, stepping up to about 4,700 in September 2025, and making only slight gains to just over 5,000 by May 2026. Edge and Chrome rise from roughly 15,000 to around 24,000 passed tests, Firefox improves from about 11,000 to 18,000, and the “All subtests” total increases from around 22,000 to about 25,500. The chart highlights that Safari has improved modestly but still trails substantially behind Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Also published were some interesting feature comparisons using Microsoft Edge’s top developer needs dashboard highlighting a number of features the prototype supports that Safari (and by extension of Apple’s browser engine ban, all other browsers on iOS) do not. 🧵(4/8)
Two iPhone screenshots compare feature support for Blink on iOS versus WebKit on iOS. The left phone, labeled “Chromium 151.0.7882.0,” shows a prototype Blink on iOS page where selected top developer needs are supported: CSS corner-shape, CSS calc-size(), JavaScript Temporal, and four listed features: reading-flow, Scheduler API, moveBefore(), and requestIdleCallback(). The right phone, labeled “Safari 26.5.1,” shows the production WebKit on iOS version of the same page, with the same features marked “not available here” or “0 of 4 supported.” A caption below says the selected feature tests come from a Top Developer Needs dashboard and represent progress toward resolving developer pain points and closing interoperability gaps.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
🧵(3/8)
Screenshot of a prototype benchmark comparison for Chromium/Blink versus Safari/WebKit on iOS. Three cards show Chromium ahead of Safari on an iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26.5.1: Speedometer 3.1 web responsiveness, 49.27 vs 38.3, listed as +28.6%;  JavaScript and Wasm throughput, 306.35 vs 270.9, listed as +13.1%; and graphics rendering, 4,773.52 vs 4,673.68, listed as about +2.1%.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Speedometer is a browser benchmark originally developed by Apple. Apple’s WebKit team described Speedometer as “the best way yet to measure browser performance”. 🧵(2/8)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 18/06/2026
Newly published tests show a Chromium/Blink engine running on iOS is 28.6% faster than Safari in Speedometer page responsiveness tests. 🏎️💨📱⚡️ This is a clear example of the costs Apple imposes on consumers and businesses, costs created by its 17-year ban on competing browser engines. 🧵👇️ (1/8)
open-web-advocacy.org
28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 17/06/2026
“Microsoft engineers have published benchmark results showing that a Chromium-based browser using its own rendering engine scores 28.6% higher than Safari on Apple's own Speedometer 3.1 performance test on iOS” www.macrumors.com/2026/06/17/w...
macrumors.com
Apple's WebKit Rules Reportedly Cost iOS Users Almost 30% Browser Performance
Microsoft engineers have published benchmark results showing that a Chromium-based browser using its own rendering engine scores 28.6% higher than Safari on Apple's own Speedometer 3.1 performance tes...
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Reposted by Open Web Advocacy
Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Apple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says Microsoft. "The performance tax comes to 28.6%, almost as much as Apple's 30% commission. Even without performance optimisation, Blink on iOS is faster than WebKit. But you can't have it, because of Apple's iOS rules.
theregister.com
Apple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says Microsoft
Rival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 17/06/2026
Safari 28.6% slower than Chromium on iOS. This is the tax every single user on iOS has to pay as a result of the #AppleBrowserBan www.theregister.com/software/202...
theregister.com
Apple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says Microsoft
Rival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
🧵(7/7) 📖Read our full analysis: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/open-le...
open-web-advocacy.org
Open Letter: Why the CMA Must Enforce the DMCCA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
This is exactly why the CMA must use its DMCCA’s powers decisively. Browsers, browser engines, web apps, search, app stores, developers, businesses, and users all depend on genuine competition. 🧵(6/7)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
Butler went on explaining that, without robust competition rules, these companies will "continue to stifle innovation, limit consumer choice, and create barriers for businesses across the UK’s digital economy." 🧵(5/7)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
"It’s now widely understood that Apple and Google wield extraordinary power over the online economy," Butler stated following his BBC appearance, deeming legislation, like the DMCCA in the UK and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe, as “essential". 🧵(4/7)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
"However, critics argue that regulators are moving too slowly, allowing dominant platforms to entrench their monopolies across mobile browsers, search engines, and app stores." 🧵(3/7)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
"Passed with overwhelming cross-party support, the DMCCA was designed to break the stranglehold that a small number of tech giants have over the UK’s digital economy." 🧵(2/7)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 01/06/2026
Proton CTO Bart Butler urges the 🇬🇧 UK to start enforcing competition laws against Big Tech before it's 'too late' 🧵👇️ (1/7) 📖Read more: www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-priv...
techradar.com
Proton CTO urges the UK to start enforcing competition laws against Big Tech before it's 'too late'
Proton and tech allies demand UK regulators crack down on Apple and Google's dominance
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
Any successful solution to allow browsers to use their own engines in the EU is highly likely to become global. Multiple regulators and government organizations have recommended ending Apple's ban on third-party browsers including in the UK, Japan, USA and Australia. 🧵(10/10)
open-web-advocacy.org
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
However, Apple’s browser engine ban still needs investigation. Without a specification proceeding by the European Commission, Apple can continue to deny meaningful browser and web app competition on iOS while claiming compliance with the DMA. 🧵(9/10) open-web-advocacy.org/blog/apples-...
open-web-advocacy.org
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
Most recently, iOS 27 is reportedly set to offer native integration with Google Cast and other streaming protocols. However this functionality will reportedly be withheld from non-EU consumers. au.pcmag.com/apple-ios/11... 🧵(8/10)
au.pcmag.com
iOS 27 May Finally Add Native Support for Google Cast, But There's a Catch
The system-level Google Cast support could be restricted to EU countries.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
The Digital Markets Act has disappointed some with its slow pace but we should also acknowledge its many successes which are improving the lives of consumers in the EU and in some cases consumers globally. open-web-advocacy.org/blog/the-dig... 🧵(7/10)
open-web-advocacy.org
The Digital Markets Act Is Delivering Real Wins, But Not Yet for Browser Engines - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
“Much of the implementation has been window dressing — gatekeepers cosmetically comply with the provisions, and then it’s on the Commission to respond, with limited resources and the need to prioritize,” Alba Ribera Martínez - Competition Law Lecturer 🧵(6/10)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
It doesn't help that the Commission’s DMA enforcement team consists of just 100 staffers spread across two directorates. “They work day and night,” said Simonetta Vezzoso, a professor specializing in competition policy, adding that the teams have “limited bandwidth @wavesblog.eurosky.social 🧵5/10
open-web-advocacy.org
OWA at the EU Parliament DMA Working Group - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
Apple is now taking the commission to court in multiple cases to remove obligations or remove remedies imposed to make Apple effectively comply with those obligations. 🧵(4/10) open-web-advocacy.org/blog/owa-202...
open-web-advocacy.org
Open Web Advocacy 2025 in Review - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
With a market value of $3 trillion, Apple has a legal budget of over $1 billion a year, giving it legal power that outstrips that of small nations. It is also historically not afraid to step as close to the line of non-compliance as possible, as Apple's former general counsel explains: 🧵(3/10)
 work out how to get closer to a particular risk but be prepared to manage it if it does go nuclear, … steer the ship as close as you can to that line because that's where the competitive advantage occurs. … Apple had to pay a large fine, Tim [Cook]'s reaction was that's the right choice, don't let that scare you, I don't want you to stop pushing the envelope.
Bruce Sewell, Apple's former General Counsel
(emphasis added)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
"The risk of litigation is top of mind for Teresa Ribera’s competition department, which is mindful of the courts’ scrutiny of past antitrust decisions. That has led at times to a cautious approach that drags out proceedings" 🧵(2/10)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 28/05/2026
The Digital Markets Act was designed to move fast, but Politico’s reporting highlights how enforcement is being slowed by legal caution, limited resources, and the threat of litigation from Big Tech How well the DMA is enforced will have far-reaching consequences for the Web 🧵👇️ (1/10) 📖Read more:
politico.eu
The EU’s Big Tech law was meant to move fast. It hasn’t.
As the Digital Markets Act enters its third year, critics say enforcement is drifting toward the same delays that have plagued traditional antitrust probes.
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
Open Web Advocacy joins 17 businesses, industry bodies, public figures and civil society organisations calling for more ambitious and urgent enforcement of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) 🚨 🧵👇️ (1/28) 📖Read more: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/open-le...
open-web-advocacy.org
Open Letter: Why the CMA Must Enforce the DMCCA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
DMG Media Form Ventures Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Martin Wrigley MP Online Travel UK Professor Philip Marsden Proton (@proton.me) Telegraph Media Group xigxag (@xigxag.bsky.social) 🧵(28/28)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
❤️We would like to thank all the other signatories: Mozilla (@mozilla.org) Vivaldi (@vivaldi.com) Which? (@which.co.uk) DuckDuckGo (@duckduckgo.com) Coalition for App Fairness Ecosia Epic Games (@epicgames.com) News Media Association 🧵(27/28)
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
🧵(26/28) 📖Read more: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/how_app...
open-web-advocacy.org
How Apple’s Key Tactic Could Prevent Japan’s Smartphone Act from Improving Browser Competition - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
🧵(25/28) 📖Read more: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/apples-...
open-web-advocacy.org
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy
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Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 27/05/2026
🧵(24/28) We urge the CMA to use its powers decisively to address the many issues identified in both the mobile ecosystems study and the market investigation reference. It must also ensure that Apple is not permitted to offer a compliance solution that prevents the remedies from being effective.
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