Both Microsoft and Apple are fighting to avoid having their services Bing and iMessage included on a list of “gatekeepers” according to the new EU regulations. Both companies argue that their services are not sufficiently large or powerful to justify the restrictions in the Digital Markets Act, which aims to promote competition within the tech sector.
On September 6, the European Commission will publish a list of selected “gatekeepers,” where both companies and specific services will be named. These platforms will, based on revenue and user numbers, be required to follow rules that will make the services work better with each other.
Apple and Microsoft, along with Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, ByteDance (owner of TikTok), and Samsung, are already known to be on the list, but the EU must determine which parts of their businesses will be covered. Gatekeepers will have six months, until March 2024, to comply with the DMA’s rules once selected.
