DMA decision

In 2022, the European Union passed a law targeting very large digital companies. It is called the Digital Markets Act, or DMA for short, and is meant to ensure that a few powerful corporations do not abuse their market power. Responsible for enforcing it is the EU Commission, the governing authority of the European Union based in Brussels. When this authority makes a binding decision based on this law, it is called a DMA decision. Such a decision is an official document with legal effect, not advice and not a press release. It can determine which companies fall under the law, whether one of these companies has broken the rules, and what it now must do or pay.

What it means for Apple, Google, and Meta

The law does not apply to all companies, only to a small group. The EU calls them gatekeepers: companies that hardly any user or merchant can avoid. So far, these include, among others, Apple, Alphabet with Google, Meta with Facebook and Instagram, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance with TikTok, and Booking.com. Companies on this list must comply with rules that do not apply to smaller competitors.

The amounts involved make clear how serious this is meant to be. A violation can be punished with up to ten percent of worldwide annual revenue, and up to twenty percent for repeat offenses. For a corporation with three hundred billion euros in revenue, that would theoretically amount to thirty billion euros. In practice, the first fines in 2025 were well below that, in the range of several hundred million euros.

Often more important than the money are the obligations imposed. A decision can force a company to technically redesign its product. The fact that in the EU you can install apps on the iPhone outside the official App Store is a result of this pressure. Such changes then affect millions of devices.

From suspicion to fine

It usually begins with a designation decision. In it, the Commission determines that a company is a gatekeeper because it exceeds certain thresholds in revenue and user numbers. From this moment on, deadlines start running: the company generally has six months to adapt its services to the rules.

If the Commission later suspects a violation, it opens proceedings. It requests documents, questions competitors, and examines how a service is technically structured. The company is allowed to respond and present its own arguments. Only after that does the decision come, which establishes the violation and specifies the consequences.

A common misconception: a DMA decision is not a court ruling. It comes from an authority, not from judges. Affected companies can challenge it before the General Court of the European Union, which regularly happens. It can take years until final clarification, but in the meantime the decision usually still applies.

Why the topic appears in the business section

In the news, you often encounter the term in reports like: Brussels imposes a multimillion fine on a US corporation. Stock prices react to this because investors want to gauge how expensive the rules will become in the long run. The topic is also politically charged, since almost all affected companies come from the US or China.

But it also becomes tangible directly on your phone. Choice screens for the default search engine, multiple app stores on an iPhone, or the ability to exchange WhatsApp messages with other messengers all trace back to DMA requirements. Some of these features exist only in the EU and not in other countries.

Increasingly, this also concerns artificial intelligence. If a gatekeeper firmly integrates its own AI assistant into search, operating system, or messenger, the Commission examines whether competing providers are disadvantaged as a result. The DMA should not be confused with the Digital Services Act, which deals with illegal content, or with the AI Act, which sets rules for AI systems themselves.