[News Terms] EU Hits Apple: "We Will Further Pressure Big Tech," DMA to Take Effect on the 7th

Starting from the 7th (local time), when the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is fully enforced in the European Union (EU), there is an analysis that the position of big tech in Europe could be significantly weakened.

The massive fine imposed on Apple just before the DMA enforcement is a signal of this. Earlier, on the 4th (local time), the EU Commission fined Apple 1.84 billion euros (about 2.7 trillion KRW) for abusing its market dominance in the music streaming application market. This amount far exceeds the 500 million euros expected in the market, which is interpreted as a sign that fines against big tech could increase further once the DMA is enforced.

The DMA, established by the EU to curb the monopolistic structure of big tech, centers on imposing fines equivalent to 10% of annual sales if big tech companies abuse their market dominance in Europe.

Under this law, big tech companies that act as a kind of gateway between consumers and sellers are designated as ‘gatekeepers’ and are required to comply with obligations such as allowing sideloading, prohibiting forced in-app payments, banning self-preferencing, and ensuring interoperability. Specifically, technology platform companies providing services such as online intermediation, social networking services (SNS), search engines, operating systems, online advertising, cloud computing, web browsers, and virtual assistants are subject to gatekeeper designation. Among these technology platform companies, those with more than 45 million monthly active users, a market capitalization of 75 billion euros (about 107 trillion KRW), and annual sales exceeding 7.5 billion euros are designated as gatekeepers. Even if these criteria are not met, platforms that hold a solid and persistent position in the market may still be designated as gatekeepers.

Based on these criteria, the big tech companies currently designated as gatekeepers are Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft (MS), and China’s ByteDance, totaling six companies. Samsung Electronics, which was a candidate for gatekeeper designation along with these companies, was excluded from the final list last year after clarifying to the EU Commission that it is a ‘manufacturer’ rather than a big tech company operating a platform.

If any of the six designated gatekeepers are found to violate the DMA in the future, the EU can impose fines of up to 10% of their global revenue, and if repeated violations are determined, fines can be increased to up to 20% of annual sales.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.