In a potential win for Apple Inc., its popular messaging service iMessage may receive an exemption from new European Union (EU) antitrust rules. The EU has tentatively concluded that iMessage is not widely used enough by business users to warrant being subject to the regulations. EU officials, as part of a five-month market investigation, are leaning towards exempting iMessage from the scope of the rules, according to insiders familiar with the matter.
To fall under the jurisdiction of the rules, a service must be deemed an "important gateway" for business users. EU enforcers have determined that iMessage does not fit this category. If iMessage were to be targeted by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple would potentially face burdensome obligations to make iMessage interoperable with competing online messaging services, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, a stance that Apple has already strongly contested.
The DMA stipulates that the most powerful firms are forbidden from favoring their own services over those of their rivals. They will be barred from combining personal data across different services, prohibited from using data collected from third-party merchants to compete against them, and required to allow users to download apps from competing platforms.
In September, the EU released a list of 22 key services that will be subject to the DMA, including Google Search, Amazon's marketplace, and Facebook. Apple's App Store, Safari browser, and iOS mobile operating system were also designated as "core platform services" and thus fall under the purview of the law.
However, the EU has initiated separate investigations to determine if Apple's iMessage and Microsoft's Bing, Edge, and Advertising services should also be subject to the DMA. The EU commission declined to comment on the ongoing process, and Apple has yet to respond to inquiries on the matter.
Meanwhile, Apple, Meta (formerly Facebook), and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, have all requested that the EU courts review whether certain aspects of their services should be included under the scope of the DMA. These requests reflect growing concerns from these tech giants as the new regulations target some of their most profitable business models.
The DMA regulations will come into full effect in early March, and their enforcement will have a significant impact on how these tech giants conduct their businesses within the EU market. The exemption of iMessage from the rules would be seen as a positive outcome for Apple, relieving it of potential obligations and challenges posed by the DMA's provisions.