Europe asks if Digital Markets Act should apply to iMessage

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EU officials are asking rivals of the tech giants whether Apple's iMessage should be subjected to the rules of the Digital Markets Act, to help determine the next course of action for the regulators.

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a set of rules specifically targeting the tech giants, including Apple, Amazon, Google, and others. The rules aim to level the playing field for other companies, but officials are still trying to determine what they should do with the new powers.

According to Reuters questionnaires were sent out by the European Commission, asking for rivals and users to rate how important Apple's iMessage and three services of Microsoft's are compared to competitors. They were also asked if there were specific reasons that business users relied on the various services, and how many users used them.

The European Commission started a probe into iMessage, as well as Microsoft's Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising in September, to determine whether they need to be operated within the rules of the DMA.

After arguing iMessage wasn't big enough to count as a gatekeeper service in the EU, Apple managed to get its messaging app removed from compliance with the DMA in September. However, it seems that the European Commission is keen to determine whether those rules should apply at all.

The investigation is expected to run for another five months.

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25 Comments

iloveapplegear 113 comments · 11 Years

About 6 months ago

What a stupid decision . Off course al apple competitors are going to say yet.

spheric 2563 comments · 9 Years

iloveapplegear said:

What a stupid decision . Off course al apple competitors are going to say yet.

So if you’re going to decide how to deal with a potential threat to free markets, you shouldn’t hear what the other players in the market have to say about it?

The competitors will have opinions, and they will have to explain and justify them. They might make good arguments that the Commission has not yet taken into account, since they might involve business data points.

Remember that — as always — this legislation does not apply just to Apple, but to ALL players. They might bring arguments that let Apple off the hook, if it helps their own case.

foregoneconclusion 2689 comments · 12 Years

AppleInsider said: After arguing iMessage wasn't big enough to count as a gatekeeper service in the EU, Apple managed to get its messaging app removed from compliance with the DMA in September. However, it seems that the European Commission is keen to determine whether those rules should apply at all.

The EU is already moving the goalposts on the "gatekeeper" thing.

Honkers 156 comments · 1 Year

foregoneconclusion said:

AppleInsider said: After arguing iMessage wasn't big enough to count as a gatekeeper service in the EU, Apple managed to get its messaging app removed from compliance with the DMA in September. However, it seems that the European Commission is keen to determine whether those rules should apply at all.

The EU is already moving the goalposts on the "gatekeeper" thing.

What goalpost has moved?

The EU never said that iMessage wouldn't ever be subject to the regulation, they just removed it from the initial gatekeeper list pending investigation.

mayfly 385 comments · 1 Year

The EU should focus on higher priority issues. Guess they forgot there's a war on their border. Oh wait a second: there's TWO wars on their borders. Winter is coming, with sanctions on the Russian oil and gas they rely on to keep from freezing to death. Inflation is worse than it is here. France, England and Germany were sent reeling from record heat waves and flooding, killing thousands. Right wing extremist authoritarianism is spreading like wildfires, driven by anti-immigrant fervor.

And their knickers are in a knot about iMessage?