GAFAM’ tech giants informed the EU that its new antitrust framework, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), applies to them.
Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, and Samsung are the first seven, all US-based.
The DMA enforces antitrust on key platforms that connect digital firms and consumers ex ante. It does this by establishing up-front requirements and prohibitions for authorized gatekeepers, with the threat of very substantial penalties (up to 10% of worldwide annual revenue) for non-compliance.
Gatekeepers must give third parties with app data, avoid self-preferencing, and limit tech giants’ usage of third-party data. App store gatekeepers cannot prohibit sideloading or force developers to utilize their services, such as payment systems.
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GAFAM’ tech giants regime prohibits tracking users for adverts without authorization, among other things.
The EU expects the DMA would level the playing field online by aggressively rooting out digital firms’ unfair/exploitative practices.
The Commission has until September 6 to declare gatekeepers. It’s possible to add more names. The DMA targets only strong platforms, thus the list is unlikely to grow.
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Gatekeepers must comply with the DMA six months after being designated by spring 2024. Next year, the Commission may punish rulebreakers.
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Booking.com may join the DMA list later this year.
The platform told us it hasn’t self-notified as a gatekeeper since COVID-19 has hurt its company and it doesn’t match the DMA’s quantitative standards for the July 2023 submission deadline. It noted that it is discussing with the Commission how the regulation applies to its operations.
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Booking representative added, “We informed the European Commission.” However, we think these limits will likely be met before the end of this year, in which case we would expect to notify the European Commission within the requisite deadlines.”
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The DMA’s sister regulation, the Digital Services Act, applies more broadly than the DMA, with 19 platforms announced by the Commission in April as falling under its strictest provisions, which aim to drive algorithmic accountability atop very large online platforms (VLOPs) and search engines (VLOSEs).
The five “GAFAM” US titans and China’s ByteDance will face the strictest compliance requirements under the EU’s relaunched digital regulation because almost all self-notifying DMA gatekeepers are VLOPs/VLOSEs under the DSA (Samsung is the lone exception).
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