The European Commission has designated six “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA): Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft.
Digital platforms can be considered gatekeepers “if they provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services,” the announcement states. And, this designation entails compliance with certain rules aimed at “offering more choice and more freedom” to users and ensuring that the platforms operate fairly online.
Gatekeepers now have six months to comply with the full list of do's and don'ts under the DMA. For example, they may not:
- Treat services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself more favorably in ranking than similar services or products offered by third parties on the gatekeeper's platform.
- Prevent consumers from linking up to businesses outside their platforms.
- Prevent users from uninstalling any preinstalled software or app if they wish to do so.
The Commission will also monitor compliance and can impose fines of up to 10 percent of the company's total worldwide turnover — or up to 20 percent for repeated infringement.
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