Looking ahead: The European Union is turning its regulatory attention to a new layer of the tech stack: cloud infrastructure and AI systems increasingly controlled by a small group of dominant players. In a report released this week, the European Commission said it plans to expand the scope of the Digital Markets Act to include cloud computing and artificial intelligence, building on what it views as early success in curbing Big Tech's influence over digital markets.
The DMA, which took effect in May 2023, currently applies to companies including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Booking.com, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. These firms are designated as "gatekeepers," a status that comes with rules intended to prevent them from using their scale to block competition.
So far, regulators say the law has made it easier for users to move their data between services and has improved interoperability across operating systems.
"The DMA was designed to be future-proof and adapt to emerging challenges, for example in AI and cloud," European Union antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
Regulators are now testing that approach. The Commission is investigating whether Amazon and Microsoft's cloud businesses should also be classified as gatekeepers, a move that would bring core infrastructure services under the same regulatory framework as app stores and search engines.
Competition concerns are moving deeper into the technical foundations of digital services. Cloud platforms are no longer just storage and compute providers; they now bundle databases, developer tools, and increasingly, integrated AI models. That vertical integration can make it harder for customers to switch providers or mix and match services across vendors.
Regulators are also assessing how AI services fit within the DMA. One possibility under review is whether certain AI systems should be designated as "virtual assistant core platform services," subjecting them to stricter rules on interoperability and data access.
The Commission said its goal is to make both cloud and AI markets "fairer and more contestable," though it has not yet outlined specific remedies.
Notably, the EU is holding back in other areas. Despite pressure from some companies to require interoperability among major social platforms, regulators said they do not see sufficient demand to justify such a step.
For now, the broader structure of the DMA will remain intact. The Commission said it does not plan to revise how companies are designated as gatekeepers or change the core obligations they must follow, arguing that the existing framework is still "fit for purpose."
The response from industry has been mixed. Apple pushed back on the report, arguing that the DMA's requirements could weaken user privacy and security. The company said the changes could expose users to more harmful content through alternative distribution channels, disrupt the user experience, increase the risk of sensitive data being shared with untrusted third parties, and delay access to new features available in other markets.
Consumer advocates are taking the opposite view. The pan-European group BEUC has called on regulators to step up enforcement, particularly as competition issues shift toward AI and cloud services.
As the Commission moves into this next phase, applying those rules to cloud and AI will be more complex, given how deeply those systems are embedded in the software stack. Unlike app stores or browsers, cloud and AI platforms are tightly integrated across the software ecosystem, making it harder to draw clear lines around what constitutes fair competition.