After blocking Microsoft’s $68.7B Activision deal in 2023, the CMA accepted a restructured transaction and has since widened oversight of Big Tech and AI markets.
Who they are
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is the competition and consumer-protection regulator appearing in coverage as a gatekeeper for major technology mergers and as an enforcer shaping platform conduct in Britain. Its cases span Microsoft and Activision, Google search and advertising, Apple’s mobile payments and app ecosystem, Meta’s use of publisher and advertiser content, and consumer-law issues including fake reviews and hidden fees.
The recent arc
The coverage’s high-water mark came in 2023, when the CMA blocked Microsoft’s proposed Activision acquisition over cloud-gaming competition, then assessed a revised structure in which Microsoft sold certain cloud-gaming rights to Ubisoft. Its October approval cleared the way for Microsoft to complete the acquisition after a 20-month regulatory battle, showing that a block could become a negotiated restructuring rather than a final verdict.
More recently, the emphasis has shifted from a single blockbuster merger to rules for powerful digital platforms and AI-linked conduct. The CMA designated Google with strategic market status in search and ads in 2025, while 2026 stories cover proposed Google search-choice and AI-assistant rules, publisher opt-outs from Google AI Overviews, Apple NFC and payment-steering remedies, a Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing investigation, and a probe into Meta’s terms for content used in AI and other services. The July termination of Getty Images’ Shutterstock merger after conditions around Shutterstock’s editorial business also underscores continued willingness to attach consequential remedies to deals.
The tension
The central tension is between forceful intervention in concentrated technology markets and pressure to support UK growth. The government has called for pro-business CMA decisions and forced out chair Marcus Bokkerink before appointing former Amazon executive Doug Gurr as interim chair, even as the authority received enhanced powers. In practice, the CMA’s Google, Apple, Microsoft and Meta actions test whether it can impose safeguards on entrenched platforms without deterring product launches, investment, or transactions.
Why it matters
If this trajectory holds, the CMA will increasingly influence how leading platforms package AI features, set developer and payment terms, use third-party content, and preserve user choice in the UK—not just whether they can buy competitors. The unresolved question is whether its remedies and investigations produce durable market access and consumer protections while remaining compatible with the government’s growth agenda; the Microsoft-Activision case suggests deal redesign can be a key part of that balance.
Related: Google · Microsoft · Apple · Activision · Meta · The UK CMA approves Microsoft's ~$69B Activision acquisition, after Mi
CMA has appeared in 218 articles since 2016-01.
Coverage peaked in 2024Q3 with 13 articles.
Frequently mentioned alongside Google, Microsoft, Apple, Activision.