The European Commission has received Apple’s notifications that Apple Ads and Apple Maps meet the Digital Markets Act user-size thresholds.
The notification triggers a review to decide whether to designate them as gatekeeper core platform services, which would subject them to increased regulation.
Under the DMA, meeting these thresholds — including 45 million monthly active users in the EU and a market capitalization above €75 billion — triggers a formal assessment but does not automatically result in gatekeeper status. The Commission now has 45 working days to evaluate whether Apple Ads and Apple Maps also meet the DMA’s qualitative criteria, such as acting as an important gateway between businesses and consumers and holding a durable market position.
If the Commission ultimately designates either service as a gatekeeper, Apple would have six months to bring that service into compliance with the relevant DMA obligations. These may include transparency (e.g., advertiser reporting), fair access and restrictions on combining user data across services.
Apple submitted rebuttals on Friday, saying that despite meeting the quantitative thresholds, it does not believe Apple Ads or Apple Maps should be considered gatekeepers due to their comparatively limited market share in the EU.
The Commission’s assessment is ongoing, and no designation has yet been made.
