Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung and ByteDance are considered gatekeepers under the DMA
The reason why it is important whether or not a company is classified as a gatekeeper has to do with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) which took effect in November. Under the terms of the DMA, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a market cap of 75 billion euro ($82 billion) and higher are gatekeepers. As such, the DMA requires these firms to allow their messaging apps to work with rival messaging platforms, and allow consumers to decide which apps will be pre-installed on their devices.
The DMA could force Apple to stop demanding that developers send their customers to Apple’s in-app payment platform
The DMA also could prevent Apple from forcing developers to use its payment system for processing in-app payments and subscriptions. Apple gets a cut of up to 30% on payments that it processes. While Google also takes a similar cut on in-app payments made through its payment processing platform, the company does allow apps to be sideloaded on Android.
The EU’s Digital Market Act is going to make major changes to the mobile industry in parts of Europe
The gatekeeper companies will provide the EU with data by September 6th, which will confirm whether they meet the designation. If so, they will have another six months, until March 6th, to comply with the rules. EU industry chief Thierry Breton says, “Europe is completely reorganizing its digital space to both better protect EU citizens and enhance innovation for EU startups and companies.”
ByteDance says that it should not be considered a gatekeeper. While it does meet the qualitative qualifications of a gatekeeper, the Chinese social media company says that it doesn’t meet the requirement calling for it to be an “unavoidable platform to conducting online business in the EU” and to be an “entrenched” gateway between consumers and businesses. Booking.com says that it will meet the qualifications to be labeled a gatekeeper by the end of the year.
Keep in mind that the DMA will only cover devices, apps, and services being purchased in one of the EU member countries. Of course, the U.K. left the EU on January 31st, 2020 which means that devices in the U.K. are not subject to the DMA antitrust legislation. There are 27 member countries in the EU.
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