Apple and Microsoft services will avoid tighter regulation in the EU

Apple’s iMessage messaging service and Microsoft’s Bing search engine will not be subject to stricter regulation under digital platform rules, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.

Two other Microsoft products also qualify for this exemption: the Edge browser and Microsoft Advertising.

New European platform legislation determines that the giant firms it calls “gatekeepers” will be subject to tougher regulatory standards, but these two specific products will be excluded.

Apple and Microsoft, as well as Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, ByteDance (TikTok) and Meta (Facebook) have been designated as gatekeeper firms by the European Commission and are therefore subject to tougher rules.

The list included four social networks (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn), two messaging systems (Whatsapp and Messenger), three operating systems (Android, iOS and Windows), the Google search engine and the Chrome and Safari browsers.

On Tuesday, the Commission announced that it had decided to close four investigations open into the four services.

Apple and Microsoft praised the Commission’s decision.

“We thank the Commission for agreeing with us that iMessage should not be designated” under the Digital Markets Act (DML), an Apple spokesperson said.

For its part, a Microsoft spokesperson assured that the firm will continue to “work with the Commission and the wider industry to ensure that other designated Microsoft platforms are fully compliant with the LMD.”

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© Agence France-Presse