The EU is considering whether Apple Ads and Apple Maps should be subject to the same rules as other companies classified as “gatekeeper” services under its Digital Markets Act (DMA), while the tech giant argues that they should be exempt.
The DMA is a regulation aimed at making the digital market fairer and more competitive by imposing rules on large online platforms designated as “gatekeepers”.
The rules aim to prevent companies from abusing their dominant market position, ensuring fair competition, and giving users more control over their digital experiences.
Key provisions currently include allowing users to uninstall pre-installed apps, use third-party app stores, and easily switch between services, while prohibiting self-preferencing and combining user data without their consent.
EU antitrust authorities have previously confirmed that Apple Ads and Apple Maps meet the requirements of the DMA.
The DMA designates companies with services that have more than 45 million monthly active users and €75 billion in market capitalisation as gatekeepers subject to a range of obligations and prohibitions.
On Friday, Reuters reported that Apple has acknowledged these thresholds but insists that Ads and Maps should not be considered core platform services or gatekeepers, arguing that they do not have the same systemic power as the App Store, iOS or Safari.
According to Apple, these services do not have the level of influence and market coverage necessary for such a designation, Reuters reported.
The tech giant argues that Apple Ads is not a significant player in the EU online advertising services market and has a far lower digital presence compared to competitors such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok or X. It also argues that Ads doesn’t use data from other Apple services or third-party services for this service.
Additionally, it claims that Maps has very limited usage in the EU compared to bigger services such as Google Maps and Waze, with the service lacking features that would allow it to connect business users and end users more directly.
Regulators have 45 working days to decide.
If designated, Apple would have six months to comply with DMA rules.
On 6 September 2023, the European Commission designated six gatekeepers, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft, for the first time under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
In April, the Commission designated Apple, in relation to its iPadOS tablet operating system, as a gatekeeper under the DMA.
In April 2025, Meta was deselected for its Facebook Marketplace online intermediation service.
In total, 23 core platform services provided by these gatekeepers are currently designated.
