Apple’s App Store, Safari browser, and iOS operating system were today officially designated as “gatekeepers” in the European Union. This is the official classification that requires compliance with strict new regulations (via) bloomberg).
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to curb the power of big tech companies. Designated “gatekeeper” platforms will now be barred from prioritizing their own services over those of their competitors. These platforms are also prohibited from combining personal data across different services and must allow users the option to download apps from alternative platforms. In a statement, Apple said: bloomberg “We remain very concerned about the privacy and data security risks that DMA poses to our users.”
Apple’s “App Store”, Safari, and iOS are officially classified as gatekeepers, but iMessage remains off the list for now. Apple recently said that the user base of its iMessage service in Europe may not be large enough to be included in DMA regulations. The European Commission is investigating the legitimacy of this claim, alongside Microsoft’s Bing and Edge.
In addition to Apple, the European Commission has also listed the services of other technology companies such as Alphabet’s Google Search, Amazon’s Marketplace, Bytedance’s TikTok, etc. Currently, there are a total of 22 services that fall under the DMA regulations. ing.
Companies classified as “gatekeepers” under the DMA must meet certain criteria, such as having a turnover of at least €7.5bn across the EU or a market capitalization of at least €75bn . This designation also requires that the platform or service has at least his 45 million monthly active users and at least his 10,000 annual active business users in the EU.
Companies that do not comply with the new regulations risk facing EU investigations, hefty fines and the imposition of “behavioral or structural remedies”. Fines can reach up to 10% of a company’s global turnover, with fines of 20% for repeat violations.
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(tag translation) App Store