Microsoft And Apple Are Looking For Reasons Not To Enter The European Union's Gate Guard List

JAKARTA - The European Union (EU) in its Digital Market Law will soon appoint gatekeepers. However, some tech giants are trying not to be selected on the list.

Microsoft and Apple are trying not to include Bing Search and iMessage from the list which will eventually comply with the new EU regulations, while limiting competition between technology companies.

The EU Digital Market Law was only enacted in July 2022 which took effect in April 2023 by setting gatekeepers on September 6, requiring technology companies to follow the rules from March 2024.

The platform will be determined based on revenue and the number of users, they will be asked to comply with a number of interoperability and competition rules.

The app must have at least 45 million monthly active users, 7.5 billion euros per year or a market cap that exceeds 75 billion euros.

According to reports from two people who declined to be named, Microsoft argues Bing Search is not popular enough to be referred to as a gatekeeper service.

The reason is, Bing Search's market share is relatively small compared to its Google competitors, which would be even less if Microsoft had to offer users access to other search engines.

Likewise with Apple, which says iMessage should not be labeled as a gatekeeper service. This is because its services are not large enough or strong enough to justify restrictions on the EU Digital Market Law.

If iMessage gets into the gatekeeper, then Apple will have to open access to the app to third parties.

Indeed, Apple confirmed there are more than 1 billion active iPhone users in the world, but it is not known for sure whether they also use iMessage and therefore the app does not have to interact with other messaging services.

For information, not only Apple and Microsoft, other companies such as Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, ByteDance and Samsung are also claimed to be on the EU gatekeeper list. This was reported by the Financial Times through The Verge, Tuesday, September 5.