The European Commission has embarked on three market investigations on cloud computing services provided by Amazon and Microsoft, under the Digital Markets Act, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Two of the probes will examine whether the companies should be designated as gatekeepers for their cloud services. A third investigation will assess whether the DMA can effectively address anticompetitive practices in the cloud computing sector.
The term “gatekeeper” in this context refers to companies that meet the thresholds set out under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. The DMA applies to firms with more than 45 million monthly active users and a market capitalisation above 75 billion euros. Services that fall under this category are considered core platform services and must comply with rules aimed at ensuring fair access for competitors.
Amazon Web Services remains the largest cloud provider globally, followed by Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud. The Commission’s move comes as the EU and the United States continue to diverge over the regulation of major tech firms.
According to the Reuters report, while Microsoft said it was prepared to support the inquiry, an AWS spokesperson said designating cloud providers as gatekeepers could risk slowing innovation or increasing costs for European companies.
If the investigations determine that the services meet the DMA’s criteria for important gateways, they would be added to the list of core platform services for which Amazon and Microsoft are already designated as gatekeepers.
The Commission aims to complete its investigations within 12 months.
Featured image by Guillaume Périgois