Two additional pillars 🏛️ of Apple’s 🍎 ecosystem—specifically Maps 🗺️ and Ads 📢—might now be substantial enough to earn the “gatekeeper” label 🏰 under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) 🇪🇺. The EU has announced 📣 that it received notifications from Cupertino 🏢 stating that these services meet the necessary regulatory thresholds ⚖️. Regulators now have a 45-day window ⏳ to determine if Apple will officially receive the designation for either platform.
To qualify as a “gatekeeper” 🗝️ under DMA guidelines, a service must report 45 million monthly active end users 👥 and 10,000 yearly business users 💼 over the prior three financial years 🗓️. This designation implies a platform holds significant sway ⚖️ over its specific market. Apple 🍎 is no stranger to these regulations; the company already manages several designated products, including the Safari web browser 🌐, the App Store 📲, iOS 📱, and iPadOS 🖥️. Consequently, Apple is bound by stringent conduct rules 📜 for these services, prohibiting it from prioritizing its own offerings over competitors or trapping users within its walled garden 🪴.
Despite the notification, Apple has filed a rebuttal 🗣️ and intends to argue why Maps 🗺️ and Ads 📢 should remain exempt, as reported by Reuters 📰. The tech giant contends that Maps sees significantly lower usage 📉 within the EU compared to rivals like Google Maps. Similarly, Apple argues its advertising business holds a minimal market share 🤏 when stacked against heavyweights like Google, Meta, TikTok, and X 🥊. “We look forward to further explaining to the European Commission 🇪🇺 why Apple Maps and Apple Ads should not be designated,” Apple 🍎 noted in a statement.