DMA focus switches to AI and cloud computing after commission backs regime’s impact so far

Now the Commission is set to double down the enforcement of existing digital markets competition rules – and bring its focus on new frontiers such as cloud services and artificial intelligence and how they fall within the DMA’s framework.

The first ever tri-annual review report on the functioning of the DMA, published on 28 April, highlights the Commission’s findings that in its first two years of application the DMA remains “fit for purpose” and has opened up new opportunities for rival businesses and developers, while giving users greater choice and control over their digital experiences.

Commission officials pointed to evidence of major online platforms adjusting their practices - from introducing data portability tools to offering ‘choice screens’ for default apps - in ways that are beginning to make markets fairer and more contestable, allowing users to more easily switch between services or devices and prevent their personal data being combined across platforms.

Under the DMA developers have also gained new avenues to reach consumers, such as through alternative app stores or interoperable messaging, according to the Commission’s findings.

Alex Stratakis, a competition law expert with Pinsent Masons in London, said the report indicated the Commission’s current satisfaction with how the legislation was working.

“The Commission appears to consider that the architecture of the DMA regime is largely settled, with the emphasis now shifting from design to delivery,” he said.

“For gatekeepers and their commercial partners, the message is that compliance expectations will increasingly be shaped through enforcement practice, specification decisions and regulatory dialogue rather than formal amendments to the legislation.”

However, the Commission also considers that the DMA’s full potential has not yet been realised, with feedback from hundreds of stakeholders - including SMEs as well as digital platform ‘gatekeepers’ themselves - variously emphasising the need for stronger enforcement and greater transparency around compliance, respectively.

Some responses highlighted technical friction and attempted workarounds that have limited the impact of certain obligations – although the Commission has decided against proposing any amendments to the DMA itself so soon after its full implementation, with the review explicitly concluding it is “too early for legislative changes”.

Instead, Commission officials will focus on robust enforcement and regulatory dialogue to help ensure businesses and consumers can take full advantage of the DMA’s opportunities. Initial enforcement actions from the Commission have included the first fines against gatekeepers for non-compliance with DMA obligations, which are currently being appealed; and the use of novel ‘specification’ proceedings to guide firms like Apple on how the Commission expects certain DMA interoperability obligations to be met.

The review also calls for procedural refinements, such as simplifying compliance processes and increasing transparency, to streamline the digital competition regime without weakening its rules.

‘Adapting to evolving markets’

The Commission’s report identifies cloud computing and AI as priority areas for future DMA enforcement. The EU competition agency opened three market investigations under the DMA in late 2025 to assess whether certain cloud services provided by existing gatekeepers, Amazon and Microsoft, should be designated as ‘core platform services’ (CPSs); alongside a parallel broader inquiry into whether the DMA’s existing obligations adequately address competition issues in cloud markets.

The Commission is also actively monitoring AI services, including interoperability and data access issues, to ensure that gatekeeper platforms do not stifle emerging AI competitors.

Ian Hastings, competition law expert at Pinsent Masons, said the moves confirmed that enforcement under the DMA looks set to continue to adapt to new technological challenges using the regulation’s built-in flexibility rather than seeking a rewrite of the law.

“The Commission views the DMA as a long‑term framework capable of adapting to evolving digital markets, rather than a static rulebook,” he explained.

“It remains to be seen how robust DMA enforcement will be in the growing AI and cloud sectors - the Commission is likely to be testing the borders of the DMA in these areas.”

The EU’s endorsement of the existing digital markets competition rulebook comes as the UK is implementing a parallel - albeit distinct – digital markets competition regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA), which came into force in January 2025.

The UK regime pursues the same broad aims as the EU’s DMA but with a more bespoke, participative approach, such as allowing the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to designate companies with ‘strategic market status’ (SMS) in specific digital activities and impose tailored conduct requirements on them, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all set of obligations.

By the end of 2025 the CMA had already designated Google and Apple under this new regime, and more recently announced that it had been engaging with Microsoft and Amazon in relation to their cloud services in the UK. 

Earlier this month, the CMA formally opened an SMS designation investigation under the DMCCA in respect of Microsoft’s software ecosystem. The CMA said an SMS designation “would also allow the CMA to consider whether to intervene on a key concern from its cloud market investigation – particularly Microsoft’s use of software licensing which was found to be reducing competition in cloud services”.

Tadeusz Gielas, competition law expert at Pinsent Masons, explained that despite their differences, the EU and UK digital markets competition regimes represent complementary efforts to promote competition and innovation across the technology industry.

“The Commission was legally required to review the DMA regime three years after its inception, however the regime is still relatively new, with the full range of obligations only applying since March 2024 to the ‘first wave’ of designated gatekeepers and CPSs,” he said.

“The Commission has not yet made designations in every available CPS category, and multiple appeals currently pending before EU courts are expected to provide valuable further guidance on how key aspects of the DMA regime should be interpreted and applied by the Commission.”

“The DMA review findings may also be instructive for the CMA as the UK’s DMCCA regime beds in, reinforcing that early regulatory choices are likely to shape market behaviour for years, even as the detail is refined through case-by-case application”, said Gielas.