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# EU Names Six Big-Tech Gatekeepers and 22 Platform Services Under Digital Markets Act
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/taq-historical-2023-09-09-tech/
- Published: 2023-09-10T03:59:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-09-10T03:59:00.000Z
- Description: The European Commission designated Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as Digital Markets Act gatekeepers, starting a six-month compliance clock for 22 services.
- Author: Kenneth R. Deans Jr.
- Tags: Tech, #Import 2026-09-01 05:52

The European Commission this week designated six of the world’s largest technology companies as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act, formally moving Europe’s new competition regime from legislation into company-specific regulation. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft were named on September 6, covering a combined 22 core platform services ranging from app stores and operating systems to search, social networks, advertising and messaging.

The [Commission’s designation announcement](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/digital-markets-act-commission-designates-six-gatekeepers?ref=theamericanquorum.com) starts a six-month compliance period. By early March 2024, each company must bring the designated services into line with the DMA’s obligations and prohibitions or face potential penalties tied to global turnover.

## Twenty-two services move under a new regulatory model

The initial list includes Google Search, Chrome, Android, Google Play, YouTube, Google Maps and Google’s advertising service; Apple’s App Store, Safari and iOS; Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Advertising; ByteDance’s TikTok; Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Marketplace, WhatsApp, Messenger and advertising system; and Microsoft’s Windows and LinkedIn. The Commission’s [competition notice](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-designates-six-gatekeepers-under-digital-markets-act-2023-09-06%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) said the decisions followed a 45-day review after seven companies, including Samsung, notified Brussels that services they operated met the law’s quantitative thresholds.

The Commission did not designate every service that crossed a numerical threshold. It accepted arguments that Gmail, Outlook.com and Samsung Internet Browser did not function as sufficiently important gateways. It also opened market investigations into Microsoft’s Bing, Edge and advertising services and Apple’s iMessage after the companies argued that those products should not be treated as gatekeepers even though they met threshold tests.

The legal framework itself is set out in [Regulation (EU) 2022/1925](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/1925/oj?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The law applies to firms with significant European economic scale and platform reach, but designation also requires that a service act as an important gateway between business users and consumers and occupy, or be likely to occupy, an entrenched and durable position.

## Rules target platform conduct before a traditional antitrust case is completed

The DMA marks a significant change in the way regulators approach market power in technology. Traditional competition enforcement usually investigates specific conduct after it occurs and can take years to produce a remedy. The DMA instead imposes a defined set of ex ante obligations once a platform is designated. The Commission’s [DMA overview](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/about-dma%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) describes the goal as making digital markets “fairer and more contestable.”

Among the law’s requirements, gatekeepers must allow certain forms of interoperability and data portability, give business users access to data generated through platform activity and permit users to uninstall some preinstalled software. The law also restricts self-preferencing, limits combining personal data across services without valid consent and constrains rules that prevent developers or merchants from steering customers to offers outside a gatekeeper’s platform.

For app distribution, the implications are especially direct. The Commission’s [developer guidance](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/developer-portal/app-distribution%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) says designated app-store gatekeepers must permit third-party app distribution and cannot require developers to use a gatekeeper’s own in-app payment system. Those provisions are aimed squarely at business models that have produced recurring disputes between platform owners and software developers.

## Messaging, search and operating systems face distinct obligations

The DMA does not treat every platform identically. Meta’s WhatsApp and Messenger, for example, face interoperability duties that can require gatekeepers to respond to requests from competing messaging providers. The Commission’s [messaging interoperability framework](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/developer-portal/messaging-interoperability%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) describes phased requirements covering one-to-one messaging, group messaging and eventually voice and video functionality.

Operating-system gatekeepers also face obligations to open hardware and software features to third parties on terms comparable with those available to the gatekeeper’s own services. The Commission’s [interoperability guidance](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/developer-portal/interoperability%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) connects that requirement to competition in connected devices, applications and services.

The European Parliament had framed the law in similar terms during the legislative process. A [2022 parliamentary statement](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220516IPR29641/digital-markets-act-ep-committee-endorses-agreement-with-council?ref=theamericanquorum.com) said the rules were designed to curb unfair practices by platforms that businesses and consumers can have difficulty avoiding because of their scale and position.

## Companies now have to redesign products, contracts and compliance systems

The practical challenge for the six companies is larger than a single legal filing. Compliance can require changes to product interfaces, default settings, app-store policies, advertising-data practices, contractual terms and internal governance. The Commission has made clear that gatekeepers must be able to demonstrate compliance, not merely assert it.

The designation also gives Brussels a centralized enforcement role. Violations can lead to fines of up to 10 percent of worldwide annual turnover and higher penalties for repeated noncompliance. In cases of systematic violations, the law permits additional behavioral or structural remedies.

The Commission maintains a [gatekeeper portal](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers-portal%5Fen?ref=theamericanquorum.com) listing designated firms and services and the procedural steps attached to their status. That architecture gives Europe a standing mechanism for supervising platform conduct rather than relying exclusively on one-off antitrust cases.

For the technology industry, September 6 is therefore more than another regulatory announcement. Six companies that operate much of the world’s digital infrastructure now have a fixed deadline to change how some of their most important products function in Europe. Developers, advertisers, merchants, messaging competitors and consumers will spend the coming months testing whether the DMA materially changes the balance of power inside those ecosystems.