• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 17, 2023

Apple, Meta, and TikTok owner ByteDance contested their platforms’ definitions as part of the European Union Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The DMA legislation allows regulators to designate dominant companies’ services or platforms as “gatekeepers.” Google and Microsoft accepted the designation, but Apple, Meta, and ByteDance have not.

The legislation targets 22 services run by six big tech companies--Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok.

The law encourages consumer-friendly competition and prevents businesses from imposing unfair conditions on customers.

The EU Court of Justice posted on X Friday about Apple’s, Meta's, and TikTok's formal objection. The complaint details were not made public, but Bloomberg News reported last week that Apple would challenge the gatekeeper designations of both its App Store and iMessage product.

Apple this week said it would support RCS on iPhone starting in 2024, which could potentially remove one of its challenges. 

Google and Microsoft earlier this week separately said they would not challenge a law in Europe that would categorize them as a gatekeeper. Meta joined in on Wednesday, appealing the gatekeeper status of its Messenger and Marketplace platforms. 

Gatekeepers are required to ensure their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide the apps to pre-install on their devices.

November 16 was the deadline to file for exemption for companies that disagree with the status.