Will the DMA apply to iMessage? What we know about the EU investigation

In September, the European Commission presented the list of companies to which the stricter rules of the DMA or Digital Markets Regulation will apply, as well as the list of services considered as gatekeepers. And obviously, Apple is on the list of digital giants that will be closely scrutinized as part of this regulation.

Apple platforms such as the App Store and iOS are affected. On the other hand, iMessage is, for the moment, not one of the services affected by the DMA. The European Commission explained that although this service meets the thresholds defined by the regulation, Apple has indicated that its messaging service should not be designated.

Microsoft has made similar requests for Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising.“Under the Digital Markets Regulation, these investigations aim to determine whether companies have presented a sufficiently substantiated rebuttal which demonstrates that the services in question should not be designated”, explained the Commission.

A decision in a few months

Currently, the European Commission is carrying outtherefore market surveysto determine whether the DMA will apply to these services, including iMessage. And according to Reuters, the Commission is currently questioning users and rivals of the services under investigation. This October, Brussels would have sent questionnaires to measure the importance of the three Microsoft services and iMessage, compared to competing services.

The investigation should not last more than 5 months. After this, if the EU concludes that the DMA will ultimately apply to iMessage, Apple will certainly have to make changes to its messaging service to be in compliance. Among the obligations, there is that of“allow third parties to interact with the gatekeeper's own services in certain specific situations”.

For example,WhatsAppwas designated by the European Commission within the framework of the DMA. And according to a leak, this iMessage competitor is already preparingan updatewhich would allow its users to communicate with other messaging services. In other words, the DMA could force Apple to make iMessage compatible with other platforms. However, this is something that Google is campaigning for.

Regarding iOS, the DMA could force Apple to end its closed system, allowing the installation of applications that do not come from the App Store, or third-party application stores.