European Commission designates iPadOS as a gatekeeper subject to EU digital market law

The European Commission has designated iPadOS a 'gatekeeper' subject to regulation under

Apple's iPadOS subject to tough EU tech rules, EU says | Reuters

The Digital Markets Act is EU law that requires large platforms designated as 'gatekeepers' to act fairly.

The new law will come into effect on Thursday, March 7, 2024, and six companies and 22 services have been designated as 'gatekeepers.' Apple has already designated its smartphone operating system iOS, web browser Safari, and app store App Store as gatekeepers.

Margrethe Vestager, EU competition commissioner, explained why iPadOS was designated a 'gatekeeper' device. She said that even though iPadOS has not yet crossed the threshold, it is an important gateway between many companies and their customers. She also pointed out that the number of users is expected to increase in the near future and cross the threshold, and that business users and end users are locked into the iPadOS ecosystem.

The 'gatekeeper' designation means that Apple has six months to bring iPadOS into compliance with the DMA, and any violations of the DMA will result in a fine of 10% of a company's worldwide revenue.

According to the European Commission, Booking, which operates the travel booking site Booking.com, and X, which operates the social networking site X (formerly Twitter), have notified it of the possibility of exceeding the DMA thresholds, and it plans to make a decision on whether to designate them as 'gatekeepers' by May 14, 2024 at the latest.