- The Coalition for App Fairness is calling on the UK to crack down on Big Tech
- Proton’s CTO criticized the lack of enforcement of existing competition laws
- Delaying enforcement could stifle innovation, critics warn
The creators behind one of the best VPN and secure email services are demanding that the UK government stop dragging its feet and start enforcing competition laws against tech giants like Apple and Google.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, Proton’s chief technology officer Bart Butler publicly backed an urgent open letter sent this week to the UK government and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
For ordinary users, this lack of legislative action has a direct impact on daily Internet life. Without proper competition, the coalition warns, consumers are often stuck with default, locked-in ecosystems that limit choice, raise prices and limit access to stronger privacy and security features.
“No more than words on a page”
With overwhelming cross-party support, the DMCCA was designed to break the stranglehold a small number of tech giants have over Britain’s digital economy.
However, critics argue that regulators are moving too slowly, allowing dominant platforms to entrench their monopolies across mobile browsers, search engines and app stores.
“It is now widely understood that Apple and Google have extraordinary power over the online economy,” Butler said after his BBC appearance, considering legislation such as the DMCCA in the UK and Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe, as “essential”.
Butler went on to explain 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.”
A group of companies have written to the Competition and Markets Authority to say more needs to be done to stand up for smaller technology companies. Bart Butler, CTO at Proton, a privacy-centric alternative to big tech services, tells @FelicityHannah that Google… pic.twitter.com/QTKK43Vf1p29 May 2026
Despite the regulatory tools now available to the UK government, Butler argues that procrastination has left the door open to continued monopolistic behavior that hurts smaller startups and scaleups.
“It’s important that we all recognize that we’ve seen almost no meaningful action since the DMCCA was passed,” Butler said, arguing that Apple and Google continue to have “free rein” to continue doing what they believe is in their best financial interests, regardless of the impact on the broader industry.
“If regulators are not given the resources and teeth they need to properly enforce the rules, legislation will remain just words on a page,” Butler added.
Protecting the AI era
The open letter highlights a critical, ticking clock: the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Specifically, the coalition warns that if the current bottlenecks controlled by Big Tech are not corrected immediately, these market failures will simply be inherited by the AI era, extending the dominance of a small number of companies to the next generation of digital services.
The letter also strongly rejects the simplistic “growth versus regulation” narrative. Citing research from the OECD and the IMF, the signatories point out that open, competitive markets are precisely what drive productivity and investment.
To prevent Britain from becoming what the House of Lords previously called a “incubator economy,” the coalition is calling on the UK government to resource the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) and quickly turn existing investigations into enforceable behavioral requirements.
For Proton and its allies, the time for investigations is over.
“Speed is now of the essence,” warned Butler. “Big Tech has been allowed to continue as if nothing had happened for two years since the legislation was passed. That cannot be allowed to continue. If we fail to act now, it may soon be too late.”
