• by Laurie Sullivan , February 13, 2024

Strict new European Union rules that will go into effect March 7, will not apply to Apple iMessage, the Microsoft Bing search engine, the Edge web browser or advertising services.

This includes a requirement to offer interoperability with other messaging services through the Digital Markets Act.

The services, according to the EU, are not dominant enough for the requirement to adhere to the DMA.

The decision made by EU regulators was announced Tuesday. The regulations, if they had been enforced, would have required the two companies to adapt services to adhere to new prohibitions designed to limit the abuse of market power.

The ruling focused on six technology firms deemed to be digital “gatekeepers.” Some of the services are now except. For Microsoft this includes Windows operating system for PCs and LinkedIn for social media. For Apple, it includes the iOS mobile operating system, as well as App Store and Safari

The DMA is the EU’s law to make the markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable. It established a set of clearly defined objective criteria to identify “gatekeepers.”

Meta’s WhatsApp and Message, two of its messaging platforms, have been designated as core platform services under this act, and has been working to make them interoperable with third-party services.

Companies looking to gain interoperability with WhatsApp must sign an agreement with Meta and abide by its terms.

Along with Meta, Google, Amazon, and ByteDance will face new obligations that are intended to prevent them from abusing their dominance in other parts of their business, Bloomberg reported.

The law makes it illegal for the companies to favor their own services over those of rivals. They cannot combine personal data across their different services, and from using data they collect from third-party merchants to compete against them. They also must allow users to download apps from rival platforms.