The European Union has prioritized the development of a competitive internal market since its inception, enacting binding regulations and directives across all member states. In recent years, rapid technological advancement has created new challenges to competition in digital markets, forcing the EU's legislative bodies - specifically the European Commission - to expand the EU's competition framework through the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act ('DMA').
Purpose and Scope of the DMA
The DMA constitutes the EU's first regulatory tool designed to promote fair competition and contestability in digital markets, through three core mechanisms: (a) establishing objective criteria for defining 'gatekeepers', (b) imposing binding obligations on designated gatekeepers and (c) providing remedies, including structural measures for non- compliance. Traditional EU competition rules (e.g. articles 101-109 TFEU) remain fully applicable alongside the DMA.
Defining 'gatekeepers'
Under the regulation, gatekeepers are designated digital platforms which provide core platform services, such as online search engines, cloud computing, online advertising, app stores and messenger services and at the same time, possess significant market power that enables them to control customer access.
More specifically, the Commission applies three criteria to designated gatekeepers: (a) internal market impact, referring to an annual turnover in the European Economic Area (EEA) that exceeds €7.5 billion in each of the last three financial years and operations in - at least- three member states, (b) gateway control, namely the ability of such platforms to control an important access point that connects business users to end users, applicable when there are more than 45 million monthly active end users on the platform and more than 10.000 yearly active business users established in the EU and (c) possession of a durable market position.
Designated Gatekeepers under the DMA
On 6 September 2023, the Commission designated six gatekeepers under the DMA, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft, in services such as social networks (Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn), intermediation services (Google Maps, Google Play, Google Shopping, Amazon Marketplace, Appstore, Meta Marketplace), video sharing (YouTube) and browsers (Chrome, Safari).
Restrictions and obligations for Gatekeepers
This innovative European regulation imposes several obligations on gatekeepers, which they must comply with in their daily operations. Specifically, gatekeepers must allow third parties to interoperate with their services in certain cases. For instance, they are obliged to provide companies advertising on their platforms, with the tools and information necessary for the advertisers to independently verify advertisements hosted by the gatekeeper. Additionally, gatekeepers, must allow their business users to access data generated through their use of the platform, while permitting them to promote their offers and conclude contracts with customers outside the gatekeeper's platform.
Furthermore, gatekeepers must avoid treating their own services and products more favourably in rankings than similar services and products offered by third parties on their platform, a practice known as 'self- preferencing'. They must not prevent consumers to connect with businesses outside their platforms and they must allow users to uninstall and pre- install software or apps as they wish.
The significance of the DMA
The DMA entered into force on 1 November 2022 and became applicable on 2 May 2023. As digital markets continue to evolve, the DMA is anticipated to serve as a cornerstone of European competition policy, fundamentally shaping the operations of technology companies across the European Economic Area (EEA) and setting a global precedent for digital market regulation.
References:
Commission, E., 2025. About the Digital Markets Act. [Online] HERE
Commission, E., 2025. Gatekeepers. [Online] HERE
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