Making the DMA Bite: What Two Years of Enforcement Teaches Us About the Future of Digital Regulation

In this new entry for The Platform Law Blog, authors Konstantina Bania & Philine Wassenaar (Geradin Partners) examine how the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has evolved from an ambitious regulatory experiment into an active enforcement regime. Two years after its launch, the European Commission has issued its first major fines, opened multiple investigations, and begun reviewing whether the DMA is achieving its goal of curbing the power of digital “gatekeepers” more quickly and effectively than traditional antitrust enforcement.

The authors highlight the DMA’s first landmark non-compliance decisions against Apple and Meta. Apple was fined for undermining anti-steering rules through fees and design choices that discouraged developers and users from transacting outside the App Store, while Meta was penalized over its “Pay or Consent” model, which the Commission found failed to provide users with a genuine and freely given choice regarding the use of their personal data. Together, these cases signal the Commission’s willingness to focus on the practical effects of platform behavior rather than formalistic compliance.

The article also explores the growing importance of specification proceedings, which allow the Commission to define in detail how DMA obligations should be implemented. These proceedings have been used to address interoperability requirements for Apple’s ecosystem and are now being applied to questions surrounding Google’s Android platform, search data access, and the integration of AI-driven services. The authors argue that these tools provide regulators with a more flexible and technically nuanced way to address rapidly evolving digital markets.

Looking ahead, Bania and Wassenaar discuss the challenges that will shape the DMA’s next phase, particularly the rise of AI and cloud infrastructure. The ongoing review process is examining whether current DMA rules are sufficient to address AI-related concerns such as interoperability, self-preferencing in AI-generated responses, and access to data critical for AI development. While the DMA has already demonstrated its ability to influence platform conduct, the authors conclude that its long-term success will depend on faster enforcement, effective coordination with other regulatory regimes, and its capacity to adapt to emerging technologies.

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