The European Commission identified six big tech giants as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a novel set of rules that aims to encourage digital competition and expand consumer options. The gatekeepers, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft, have six months to ensure their core platforms comply with this legislation.
European Commission lists tech giants as Digital Markets Act gatekeepers
As smaller businesses complained about being trampled in virtual space by the big names in tech, the DMA aims to level the playing ground to an extent. For instance, the Google and Apple operating systems are the top drivers in the mobile industry and charge a 30% fee for in-app purchases, which companies such as Spotify and Epic Games find too expensive.
The European Union’s commission said these gatekeepers restrict wider access to core internet functionalities such as online searches, advertising and social networking. Additionally, the union also instigated five market investigations into Apple and Microsoft to determine if some of their services, such as Bing, Edge, and iMessage, also fall under the gatekeeper qualification. Even Apple’s iPadOS is under the microscope, but it is unlikely that this operating system would be typed as a gatekeeper.
Don’t miss out the latest news, subscribe to LeapRate’s newsletter
Apple raised concerns regarding data privacy and security risks posed by DMA, such as hobbling the security of its iMessage platform. A spokesperson for the company said:
Our focus will be on how we mitigate these impacts and continue to deliver the very best products and services to our European customers.
