Tech giants ‘gatekeepers’ must comply with all new EU digital market rules

Seven companies, mostly US tech giants, have informed the European Commission that they meet the criteria to be classified as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok owner ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft and Samsung have announced they meet the threshold set by the EU when they pass the new law. According to reutersBooking.com is also expected to get Gatekeeper status by the end of the year and by then the authorities will be informed.

Gatekeepers are companies with an annual turnover in Europe of at least €7.5 billion (US$8.16 billion) in the preceding three financial years or a fair market value of at least €75 billion (US$81.6 billion) in the preceding financial year. At least three member states of the European Union. They will also have served over 45 million monthly active end users and over 10,000 annually active business users in the EU over the past three years. These criteria were designed to include the largest players in the sector, as the law’s name indicates, it is intended to cover large online platforms that act as “gatekeepers” to digital markets. Are.

Under the DMA, gatekeepers will be prohibited from prioritizing their services over those of competitors and locking users into their ecosystem. They have to allow third parties to interfere with their services. They must also allow business users to promote their products/services and “conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeepers’ platform”. In the case of Google and Apple, this means they can’t prevent developers from using a payment system other than their own. Companies also cannot prevent users from removing pre-installed apps or sideloading apps from external sources. This would mean big changes especially for Apple, whose ecosystem has for the longest time been designed as a “walled garden”. In December last year, Bloomberg It was reported that Apple was preparing to allow third-party app stores and sideloading with the release of iOS 17.

All gatekeepers must comply with all aspects of the DMA in 2024. For now, European officials will review submissions and nominate gatekeepers for specific platform services until September 6th.