At an EU DMA hearing, an Apple lawyer fended off criticism over DMA compliance; Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, ByteDance, and Microsoft will now have similar hearings
Apple (AAPL.O) on Monday fended off criticism that it has not done enough to open up its closed eco-system as required under …
ReutersFoo Yun Chee
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s hearing put its closed-ecosystem model under an early public DMA compliance test, with the same process scheduled for Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, ByteDance, and Microsoft. The significance is less a ruling than the creation of a shared regulatory forum for the largest designated platforms.
Apple must defend how its ecosystem meets the DMA’s openness requirements before EU officials, while the other named gatekeepers face comparable scrutiny through their own hearings.
The hearings give the EU a direct record of each company’s compliance rationale, focusing immediate attention on whether platform controls are compatible with DMA obligations.
Second-order effects
A common hearing process increases pressure on gatekeepers to benchmark their compliance positions against peers rather than treat the DMA as a series of isolated bilateral disputes.
Developers and other businesses dependent on these platforms gain a clearer path to raise concerns about access and platform terms; later EU preliminary findings that Apple’s anti-steering rules breached the DMA show how such concerns can move into specific enforcement theories.
Third-order effects
If hearings lead to consistent investigations and remedies, the DMA could shift competition from voluntary platform policy toward regulator-defined rules for access, steering, and ecosystem interoperability.
The likely structural tension is durable: gatekeepers may frame mandated openness as burdensome or risky, as Apple later did in its court challenge to the DMA, while regulators test whether those objections outweigh contestability goals.
The trend: This is one early data point in the EU’s move from monitoring dominant digital platforms to standardized, enforceable oversight of gatekeeper conduct.
Illuminating comment from one of the complainants: “will Apple institute mandatory forced scrolling” to make sure that users are checking the other alternatives. A demand for even more friction (and likely a lot of user confusion as to why this is all being forced on them)
*************************************** ******* Digital Markets Act! EUROPEANS! If you liked non-clickable Google maps in search results...you're going to love Mandatory Forced Scrolling in iPhone's new browser ballot! *************************************** *******
Today, #DMA gatekeeper compliance workshops start in Brussels. Apple is first. Great to see the Commission is organising the workshops to provide interested parties with the possibility to ask for clarifications & to give feedback on proposed compliance solutions. #transparency
Important #DMA day today, with Apple's compliance workshop hosted by the @EU_Commission - will share some highlights here, as the discussion unfolds /1 🧵
The European Commission's full-day Apple Digital Markets Act (DMA) Compliance Workshop in Brussels starts at 9 AM (<15 minutes). One can already see people entering the room. This thread won't report on each detail. Will share occasional observations throughout the day. 🧵1/X
Attending the Apple DMA compliance workshop today. Interesting statement by @Apple's Kyle Andeer that the company will enable sideloading of apps because they ‘were pressed to do so’, rather than in compliance with the DMA. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.e u/ ... @mitchsto…
At Apple's DMA workshop in Brussels today. So far, the big takeaway is that rivals mainly care about the distribution fees that Apple will be charging. => Money matters more than default settings, steering, etc. => For rivals, the DMA was always about paying less. [image]
Each session starts with the Commission's presentation of the DMA's text, Apple's presentation of its compliance plan and how it aligns with the DMA's objectives, and finally a long Q&A with complainants and others, before a break and then starting again with the next obligation.…
Big day today as the Commission kicks off its second round of #DMA compliance workshops , this time focused on specific gatekeepers, their compliance reports, and the feedback of third-parties. First target: Apple https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.e u/ ...