Apple and Microsoft want to convince the EU Commission that the messenger iOS and the search engine Bing are not popular enough to be defined as “gatekeepers” under the rules of the new Digital Market Act (DMA). The Financial Times reported shortly before the publication of the EU Commission’s list. On September 6, they want to announce which online services are to be subject to the strict requirements associated with being classified as “gatekeepers” in the DMA. According to the report, Microsoft wants to prevent Bing from being subject to the same rules as its much larger competitor Google, while Apple argues that iMessage does not have enough users to be classified.
Advertisement
announcement on Wednesday
The arguments from Microsoft and Apple are based on the requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Corporations that have generated sales of more than 7.5 billion euros in Europe in the past three years, have a market capitalization of over 75 billion euros and have at least 45 million private users per month and 10,000 commercial users per year had to act as gatekeepers report. Seven companies did so as of July, in addition to Apple and Microsoft, the Google mother Alphabet, Amazon, the TikTok operator ByteDance, the Facebook mother Meta and Samsung. On Wednesday, the EU Commission wants to make public which of the respective services are considered gatekeepers in their business area.
Because there are strict requirements associated with the classification as a gatekeeper, Apple and Microsoft want to ensure that iMessage and Bing are not included. For example, other search engines would have to be made available on Bing, including the much larger Google. With iMessage, on the other hand, the EU could stipulate that messages about competitors such as WhatsApp, Signal or Threema must also be possible from the messenger service in the future. In addition, Apple could be forced to allow uninstallation of iMessage on iOS. In order to achieve their respective goals, Apple and Microsoft would have to convince the EU Commission that both services are not used often enough. She has herself according to the Financial Times not decided yet.
(mho)