The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has officially passed its first inspection. Though engagement with stakeholders revealed that many want to see obligations expanded to cover AI and cloud computing, future enforcement will concentrate on enforcing what it has rather than expanding the scope.

The European digital competition rulebook entered into force in 2022, though its substantial effects only came into effect in March 2024, and saw designated gatekeepers subjected to obligations and prohibitions set down in the regulation, with the intention of increasing fairness and contestability in the digital economy. Under Article 53 of the DMA, by May 3, 2026, the European Commission is required to evaluate the regulation, with subsequent reviews every three years.

The review took into account stakeholder feedback from a public consultation held last year. The Commission wrote that over 450 contributions were submitted by a broad range of interested parties, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), gatekeepers, civil society, academics, and individual citizens.

[…]

The Commission found in its assessment that the DMA had thus far effectively contributed to the core objectives of making digital markets in the EU fairer and more contestable, noting that “a tangible positive impact” had been achieved within just over two years of the DMA becoming fully applicable. The Staff Working Document accompanying the review points out that the new obligations and prohibitions brought by the regulation are a net improvement on the pre-DMA baseline, as new reporting requirements add transparency, new obligations provide opportunities for business and end users, and prohibitions improve platform conditions. Stakeholder feedback indicated broad support for the regulation, and the Commission highlights early successes such as smaller browsers gaining new users due to choice screens. However, the Commission understands the DMA as an iterative process, leaving significant room for improvement.

The review confirms that the DMA remains fit for purpose and does not need substantial revision or modification. Therefore, the review concludes that the list of core platform services will remain as they are written, and will not add generative AI services at this time, nor will Article 7 be extended to social media. The Commission generally argues that it would be premature to propose broad legislative amendments to the DMA, which has only been actively been in force for two years.

[…]

Significant changes brought by the DMA, such as allowing alternative app stores and payment methods on operating systems, have had mixed results. Though many developers have expressed interest in these new opportunities, in practice, it is difficult to pursue them due to significant technical and contractual barriers, meaning the obligations are yet to take full effect. Similarly, advertisers have found that despite gaining the right to access detailed pricing and remuneration information on adverts shown on gatekeeper ad platforms, they face “persistent issues in obtaining sufficiently granular and comparable data to fully assess campaign performance.” Again, the Commission has argued it is too soon to impose changes or make a judgment regarding the effectiveness of this obligation.

The Commission notes that “interoperability was one of the topics where stakeholder views diverged most.” While civil society, SMEs, and business users widely supported the concept of

“interoperability by design” through the adoption of open standards over proprietary APIs, gatekeepers, and respondents affiliated with gatekeepers, were concerned about the lack of targeted guidance to address legal uncertainties. They also highlighted that interoperability has high compliance costs and can harm customers, stifle innovation, and raise security and privacy concerns. This directly conflicts with those advocating for the use of standards, which can be audited and scrutinized by outside experts and increase security.

Though largely the review concludes that further monitoring will be needed to evaluate the full impact of DMA changes, it makes clear that the key areas of focus going forward will include the application of the DMA to AI and cloud computing services.

[…]

The DMA review concluded that it is too early to extend the interoperability obligations currently imposed on messaging services to online social networking services. This is because interoperability of messaging services has yet to see wide adoption, meaning that it is “too soon to draw conclusions” on its impact.

Additionally, according to their commissioned survey, consumers expressed less interest in the horizontal capabilities that extending Article 7 would bring, but expressed more interest in vertical interoperability. Vertical interoperability is when users can pick and choose ‘within-platform’ services, such as those enjoyed by Bluesky users, who can choose moderation services, custom feeds, and host their personal data on various servers.

The Future of Technology Institute’s recently released report advocates for exactly this kind of interoperability under the DMA. In a LinkedIn post on the DMA review, the think tank stated that while they “understand the instinct for caution”, they see competition in social media as a gap in enforcement.

[…]

Many respondents to the consultation also called for bolder enforcement through stronger use of sanctions, including higher fines, and the use of interim measures to more quickly tackle anticompetitive behavior. This comes amid rumors that non-compliance measures have been stalled, despite parliamentary support for enforcement, and that tech rules are part of trade discussions with the US.

In response to the review, Aline Blankertz, Tech Economy Lead at Rebalance Now, told Tech Policy Press that the review is silent on pressures from the US to weaken enforcement, which is a “huge concern not just for competition enforcement, but for the credibility of the European project.”

Source: What the EU’s First Digital Markets Act Review Actually Changes | TechPolicy.Press

And then there are a lot of headlines obviously sponsored by big tech like:

Tech industry rejects EC’s ‘unbalanced’ evaluation on Digital Markets Act

and

The EU’s Marking of Its Own Digital Markets Act Homework Found Wanting

Which try to make you feel sorry for multibillion companies trying to fleece users and destroy upcoming smaller businesses in unfair ways. With all this kind of media push, the DMA must be working!