The Digital Markets Act (DMA) represents a crucial piece of legislation devised by the European Union (EU) to oversee the operations of large-scale digital platforms, often referred to as gatekeepers. The principal aim of the DMA is to create a balanced competitive landscape within the EU’s digital economy by curtailing the market supremacy of major technology firms. Eight critical platform services, such as online search engines and social networks, fall under its purview. The DMA mandates specific responsibilities for these gatekeepers in terms of data and user protection, with hefty penalties for non-adherence. This act was tabled in 2020 and ratified in 2022, with a primary emphasis on data interoperability[1], portability, and accessibility. Its regulatory framework encompasses the evaluation of business practices, assurance of fair ranking, and investigation of potential infringements of competition law.
Digital Markets Act Regulation 2022 (EU) 2022/1925 ("DMA"), is an EU regulation that aims to make the digital economy fairer and more contestable. The regulation entered into force on 1 November 2022 and became applicable, for the most part, on 2 May 2023.
| European Union regulation | |
| Text with EEA relevance | |
 | |
| Title | Regulation on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector |
|---|---|
| Made by | European Parliament and Council of the European Union |
| Made under | Article 114 of the TFEU |
| Journal reference | OJ L 265, 12.10.2022, p. 1–66 |
| History | |
| European Parliament vote | 5 July 2022 |
| Council Vote | 18 July 2022 |
| Date made | 14 September 2022 |
| Preparative texts | |
| Commission proposal | COM/nce again, 2020/842 final |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | Directive (EU) 2019/1937 Directive (EU) 2020/1828 |
| Current legislation | |
The DMA aims at ensuring a higher degree of competition in European digital markets by preventing large companies from abusing their market power and by allowing new players to enter the market. This regulation targets the largest digital platforms operating in the European Union. They are also known as "gatekeepers" due to the "durable" market position in some digital sectors and because they also meet certain criteria related to the number of users, their turnovers, or capitalisation. Twenty-two services across six companies (deemed "gatekeepers") – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft – were identified as "core platform services" by the EU in September 2023. These companies had until 6 March 2024 to comply with all of the Act's provisions.
The list of obligations includes prohibitions on combining data collected from two different services belonging to the same company (e.g., in the case of Meta, its social network Facebook and its communication platform WhatsApp); provisions for the protection of platforms' business users (including advertisers and publishers); legal instruments against the self-preferencing methods used by platforms for promoting their own products (e.g., preferential results for Google's products or services when using Google Search); provisions concerning the pre-installation of some services (e.g., Android); provisions related to bundling practices; and provisions for ensuring interoperability, portability, and access to data for businesses and end-users of platforms. Non-compliance may lead to sanctions, including fines of up to 10% of the worldwide turnover.
According to the European Commission, the main objective of this regulation is to regulate the behaviour of the so-called "Big Tech" firms within the European Single Market and beyond. The Commission aims to guarantee a fair level of competition ("level playing field") on the highly concentrated digital European markets, which are often characterised by a "winner takes all" configuration.
The DMA covers eight different sectors, which it refers to as Core Platforms Services (CPS). Due to the presence of gatekeepers who, to a certain degree, affect the market contestability, the CPS are considered problematic by the European Commission:
In April 2024, Reuters reported on data from six companies which showed that in the first month after the regulations were implemented, independent browsers had seen a spike in users. Cyprus-based Aloha Browser said users in the EU jumped 250% in March. Norway's Vivaldi, Germany's Ecosia and U.S.-based Brave have also seen user numbers rise following the new regulation.
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