Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft say they meet EU gatekeeper status

Brussels, July 4 (BNA): EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton said Tuesday that Google, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet’s Meta platforms and Microsoft Corp. have notified the European Commission that they are eligible to be gatekeepers under the EU’s new technology rules.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that came into force last November, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a market capitalization of €75 billion are considered gatekeepers who provide an essential platform service, Reuters reported.

Samsung owner Breton and TikTok ByteDance also said they meet EU limits.

“Europe is completely reorganizing its digital space in order to better protect EU citizens and promote innovation for EU start-ups and businesses,” Breton said in a statement.

The committee will confirm the appointment of the gatekeeper by September 6 after checking the statements submitted by the companies. They will then have six months to comply with the DMA rules.

Booking.com said it expects to meet the gatekeeper threshold by the end of the year and will then notify the EU executive.

Companies classified as gatekeepers will be required to make their messaging apps work with competitors and allow users to decide which apps to come pre-installed on their devices.

They wouldn’t be allowed to favor their own services over those of competitors or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps, two rules that would hit Google and Apple hard.

Companies can be fined up to 10% of annual global sales volume for direct market access (DMA) violations.

MI