Open Web Advocacy

open-web-advocacy.orgLondon Web Standards OWA Meetup - Open Web AdvocacyWe’re having an OWA meetup in London on 1 October 2026, from 19:00–21:00 BST, together with London Web Standards.

22 Sept

🇬🇧 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.orgLondon Web Standards OWA Meetup - Open Web AdvocacyWe’re having an OWA meetup in London on 1 October 2026, from 19:00–21:00 BST, together with London Web Standards.

22 Sept

issuetracker.google.comGoogle Issue Tracker

22 Sept

🎟️ Book here: londonwebstandards.org/events/lws-o...

Open Web Advocacy reposted

Bruce Lawson

@brucel.bsky.social

6 Aug

Replying to @brucel.bsky.social

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...

open-web-advocacy.orgBruce Lawson Interviews OWA: For A Better Web - Open Web AdvocacyCheck 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…

31 July

🎙️ 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...

brucelawson.co.ukBruce Lawson's personal site» “Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly Private.” – O RLY!?!?

"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:

open-web-advocacy.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

Our analysis: 🧵(6/7) open-web-advocacy.org/blog/28-perc...

open-web-advocacy.org28%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

日本語でもご覧いただけます： 🧵(7/7) open-web-advocacy.org/ja/blog/28-p...

brucelawson.co.ukBruce Lawson's personal site» “Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly Private.” – O RLY!?!?

theregister.comApple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says MicrosoftRival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims

Also see the Register's coverage: 🧵(4/7) www.theregister.com/software/202...

macrumors.comApple's WebKit Rules Reportedly Cost iOS Users Almost 30% Browser PerformanceMicrosoft 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...

MacRumors’ coverage: 🧵(5/7) www.macrumors.com/2026/06/17/w...

brucelawson.co.ukBruce Lawson's personal site» “Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly Private.” – O RLY!?!?

"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)

"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)

Open Web Advocacy reposted

open-web-advocacy.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

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.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

open-web-advocacy.orgApple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy

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)

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)

open-web-advocacy.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

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)

Apple is setting a ceiling on the entire mobile web. This harms the web’s performance, features and security. 🧵(6/8)

open-web-advocacy.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

🧵(3/8)

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)

open-web-advocacy.org28% Faster: The Blink Prototype That Shows Why Apple's iOS Browser Engine Ban Must End - Open Web Advocacy

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)

theregister.comApple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says MicrosoftRival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims

17 June

“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...

Open Web Advocacy reposted

Bruce Lawson

@brucel.bsky.social

17 June

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.comApple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says MicrosoftRival rendering engines could make pages load almost 30% faster on iPhones, Redmond claims

17 June

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...

techradar.comProton 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

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...

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)

open-web-advocacy.orgOpen Letter: Why the CMA Must Enforce the DMCCA - Open Web Advocacy

🧵(7/7) 📖Read our full analysis: open-web-advocacy.org/blog/open-le...

techradar.comProton 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

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...

"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)

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)

techradar.comProton 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

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...

"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)

"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)

politico.euThe 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.

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:

open-web-advocacy.orgApple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy

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.orgApple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy

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.orgThe Digital Markets Act Is Delivering Real Wins, But Not Yet for Browser Engines - Open Web Advocacy

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)

au.pcmag.comiOS 27 May Finally Add Native Support for Google Cast, But There's a CatchThe system-level Google Cast support could be restricted to EU countries.

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)

open-web-advocacy.orgOWA at the EU Parliament DMA Working Group - Open Web Advocacy

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

“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)

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)

open-web-advocacy.orgOpen Web Advocacy 2025 in Review - Open Web Advocacy

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...

"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)

Open Web Advocacy reposted