Three weeks before the Digital Markets Act comes into force, the European Commission announced that it will not apply to Apple’s iMessage and Microsoft’s Bing. After five months of investigation, the European Commission determined that these platforms, along with the Edge web browser and Microsoft Advertising, do not belong to the category of gatekeeper services. The Apple Store, iOS and Windows operating systems, Safari browser, and Microsoft’s LinkedIn will still be classified as gatekeepers.
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Under the law, companies are prohibited from favoring their own services. The rules also require Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and ByteDance to allow access to third-party applications or app stores on their platforms, facilitating easier switching from default applications to competitors.
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Apple agrees with this decision. Apple welcomed the Commission’s decision.
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– Consumers today have access to a wide range of messaging apps and often use more than one at a time, reflecting how easy it is to switch between them, said an Apple spokesperson, as reported by Reuters.
