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In addition to Whatsapp: Apple's iMessage means messages in German

Photo: Britta Pedersen / DPA

The tech giants Apple and Microsoft have achieved partial success against the EU Commission. Certain company services do not initially fall under the new rules for online companies - contrary to what was initially envisaged by the Brussels authorities.

This affects Apple's messaging service iMessage, Microsoft's search engine Bing, the browser Edge and the advertising service Microsoft Advertising. This is announced by the EU Commission. However, they want to continue to monitor developments on the market with regard to these services.

The EU Commission has been trying to limit the market power of tech giants for a long time. This also includes Amazon and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. They are also referred to as “gatekeepers”. This means that the dominant Internet companies act as intermediaries between a large number of providers and users. A number of bans and requirements apply to them in the EU, which fall under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Along with other services, Apple and Microsoft also continue to fall under the DMA. At Apple it is about the App Store, the iOS operating system and the Safari browser, at Microsoft the antitrust watchdogs continue to classify Microsoft's LinkedIn career network and the Windows operating system as "gatekeepers".

Messenger apps opening soon

One of the rules they have to comply with is that large companies are only allowed to combine data from different sources with explicit user consent. Large messenger services such as WhatsApp must also be open to receiving messages from smaller messengers. For group chats, this will only come in the coming years. Violations can result in heavy fines and, in exceptional cases, even separation.

The DMA is intended to limit the market power of the Internet giants, ensure fairer competition and give consumers more freedom of choice when it comes to online offerings. Companies fall under the DMA if they have annual sales of at least 7.5 billion euros or an average market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros. They must also operate a so-called central platform service with at least 45 million active users in the EU and 10,000 active commercial users per month.

mamk/dpa-AFX/Reuters