On Monday 12 February, the European Commission finally decided that Microsoft’s search engine ‘Bing’, its web browser ‘Edge’, its online advertising service ‘Microsoft Advertising’, and Apple’s messaging service ‘iMessage’ could not be considered as essential platform services under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). They will therefore not have to meet the requirements of the regulation either, even though they are supplied by companies designated as gatekeepers (see EUROPE 13313/40).
On 5 September 2023, the European Commission took the view that the requests made by the two American companies to refute the designation of the four services as essential platform services provided by gatekeepers merited in-depth analysis.
Investigations were launched at the same time. After evaluation and consultation with the Digital Markets Advisory Committee, the European Commission ruled in favour of Apple and Microsoft on these points. The rest of their designated services, for their part, retain their status and will have to comply with the DMA.
The first six DMA gatekeepers were appointed on 6 September. Some 22 services offered by Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook) and Microsoft were affected. These companies, from which ‘Bing’, ‘Edge’, ‘Microsoft Advertising’ and ‘iMessage’ must be subtracted, will have to comply with the regulation by 6 March at the latest. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)