EU says Apple Ads and Maps likely qualify as gatekeepers, Apple disagrees

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission said on Friday that Apple’s Apple Ads and Apple Maps likely meet the thresholds to be considered “gatekeepers” as defined by the Digital Markets Act, a designation the U.S. tech giant immediately disputed.

So-called gatekeepers have to adhere to a strict set of rules on moderation of content, allowing fair competition and making it easier for consumers to switch between services.

The DMA designates companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and 75 billion euros ($79 billion) in market capitalisation as gatekeepers, which provide a core platform service for business users.

The EU Commission said notifications from Apple had shown the platforms met the thresholds set for this designation. The Commission has 45 working days to decide whether to designate Apple as a gatekeeper for any of these services and if designated, Apple will have six months to comply.

Apple said in a response on Friday that it had submitted official rebuttals to the pre-designation notification.

“We look forward to further explaining to the European Commission why Apple Maps and Apple Ads should not be designated,” it said in a statement.

It said Apple Ads is not a large player in the online advertising services market in the EU, and has minimal share compared to rivals such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok or X.

Maps has very limited usage in the EU when compared to other mapping services, such as Google Maps and Waze, Apple also said.

Apple’s App Store, iOS operating system and Safari web browser were designated core platform services under the DMA two years ago, meaning they are considered as gateways for businesses to reach users.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Charlotte Van Campenhout and Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alexander Smith)