The European Union (EU) recently agreed on the Digital Markets Act, which, if passed in October, could force companies creating messaging apps to work together under a regime of interoperability.

The Verge, which cites an EU press release, avers that the "guru" companies behind WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage would have to make their apps " interoperable" with smaller instant messaging platforms at the request of the creators.

Although the law has not yet been passed, EU legislation could force companies like Apple and Meta to open up the systems they previously controlled individually. For example: you can only send iMessages using Apple's iMessage app, which only works with their devices. It seems that the EU wants to force Apple to let other apps with Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger messaging interface with iMessage - meaning you could have a conversation between an iMessage user on an iPhone, and a Telegram user on a Windows PC, etc.

Creating this kind of interoperability, especially when it comes to encryption, is likely to be complex. Thus, it is expected that the final agreement will include interim deadlines to accommodate different levels of interoperability.

History shows that companies keep their messaging systems closed because they can, not because it is impossible to make them work together. Meta has already integrated some of its messaging systems, and Apple released a more open version of iMessage to carriers many years ago. Steve Jobs himself released FaceTime as open source.

If the EU proposal is approved, there will be an extremely troubling business reason to comply with its opening orders.

As the EU states, it can fine a company up to 10 percent of its global annual revenues. It jumps up to 20 percent for repeated violations, and the Commission can even prevent the company from making acquisitions if it is found to be systematically breaking the rules.