Here are the 7 technological giants that for the EU have too much market power in Europe

Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance and Samsung, have been designated as “gatekeepers” by the EU Commission and subjected to its surveillance following the new antitrust rules established in the Digital Markets Act. The accusation is that these seven companies have large enough to significantly affect the internal market. Gatekeeper is the term that defines intermediation platforms for the sale of products or services that have become monopolists of their reference market over the years.

7.5 billion in turnover in the EU. 10 thousand active commercial users

The Commission has established that these companies, with an annual turnover in Europe of at least €7.5 billion in the last three financial years (or a market value of at least €75 billion in the last financial year) and with at least €45 million of active end-users per month over the past three years, have excessive market power. In addition to this, they have more than 10,000 active business users per year in the EU across various services, including search engines, social networks and operating systems.

The new rules established in the Digital Markets Act require that these companies no longer limit users in their ecosystems, deciding which apps to pre-install on devices or which app store to use. They will no longer be able to give preferential treatment to their own systems, products and services, and their messaging apps will need to be able to interact with other apps.

Breton: “By 6 September they will have to comply with the DMA”

“Yesterday was the deadline for large digital platforms to notify the Commission that they meet the criteria to qualify as gatekeepers under our new Digital Markets Act.” This was announced by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, announcing the names of the seven companies: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung.

“By 6 September we will verify their communications and designate the official gatekeepers, who will then be regulated by the new DMA”. After that “the gatekeepers will have six months to comply with the new rules”, specified Commissioner Breton: “With great power comes great responsibility and impeccable behaviour”.

The tightening of the Digital Markets Act

After the presentation of the final list, these companies will have six months to comply with the rules of the DMA. The accusation is that, in the absence of such rules, consumers would have had less choice, fewer opportunities to change supplier and would not have benefited from better prices and higher quality services. In addition, other innovative companies would be prevented from reaching new customers.

The reorganization of the EU digital space, including the introduction of the Digital Markets Act, together with the Digital Services Act, the Data Act and soon the AI ​​Act, has been underlined as an effort to better protect citizens and enhance innovation for European startups and companies.