In its most recent onslaught on Big Tech, the EU Commission on Wednesday named 22 services from six major tech corporations as “gatekeepers” of online services offering messaging to video sharing.

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance, owner of TikTok, are the companies.

Companies with a market capitalization of $75 billion euros ($82 billion) and more than 45 million monthly active users are regarded as gatekeepers offering a fundamental platform function under the DMA, which took effect in November.

Businesses identified as such will have to allow consumers to choose which messaging apps to pre-install on their smartphones and make their apps work with competitors.

The most services were offered by Alphabet’s Google, including the Android operating system, Maps, and Search, which would be subject to stricter regulations. Facebook, Instagram, Marketplace, and WhatsApp for Meta also met the criteria for being gatekeepers.

The corporations will have six months to prove that they are following their commitments, and for DMA infractions, they risk being penalised up to 10% of their annual global turnover.

Gatekeepers might request a temporary suspension of the regulations’ application, but they would first need to file a lawsuit in the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, according to a senior Commission official. “So far, we haven’t encountered anything comparable.”

Zalando sued the Commission in June after the passage of distinct law, the Digital Services Act.

“It’s D-Day for #DMA!,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The most impactful online companies will now have to play by our EU rules.”

Microsoft accepted its gatekeeper title, according to a spokeswoman, but representatives for Meta, Google, and Amazon stated they were still considering the designations.

TikTok and Apple were less hospitable.

TikTok declared that it “fundamentally disagrees with this decision” and is “disappointed that no market investigation was conducted prior to this decision” and that it is “evaluating our next steps.”

A representative for Apple stated that the company is still “very concerned about the privacy and data security risks the DMA poses for our users.”

The iPhone manufacturer has previously expressed fear that the DMA might increase “side-loading,” or the installation of programmes that are not obtained from Apple’s App Store.

“The Commission should balance the need to protect user security and privacy with the very real risk that gatekeeper app stores will use security and privacy as excuses to dilute compliance with their DMA obligations,” said Stavroula Vryna, partner at law firm Clifford Chance.

The corporations that supply Alphabet’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Outlook, and Samsung’s browser were granted exemptions after presenting the Commission with reasons that were sufficiently convincing and demonstrated that these services are not gatekeepers.

In order to further evaluate Microsoft’s and Apple’s claims that certain of their fundamental platforms, such Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising, as well as Apple’s iMessage services, do not qualify as gateways, the Commission has also started four market investigations.

“iMessage is designed and marketed for personal consumer communications, and we look forward to explaining to the commission why iMessage is outside the scope of the DMA,” an Apple spokesperson said.

(Adapted from USNews.com)

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