The E.U. Digital Markets Act is here. Here’s what it means for you.

Starting now, six of the world’s biggest tech companies must fully comply with the Digital Markets Act, a sweeping set of E.U. rules designed to prevent them from stifling competition.

So what does that mean for the users of some of these companies’ platforms and products?

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance have had to implement major changes to the ways their products and services work as part of rules to make the digital economy fairer. And thanks to those changes, consumers in Europe can do things that are off-limits to the rest of us, such as downloading iPhone apps from third-party markets or using WhatsApp to send messages to loved ones who prefer other services.