What is European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA)?

About Digital Markets Act (DMA): 

• It is the EU’s law to make the markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable. It aims to create a safer internet, empower citizens, enhance consumer protections and foster higher-quality digital services.
• In order to do so, the DMA establishes a set of clearly defined objective criteria to identify “gatekeepers”.
  • Gatekeepers are large digital platforms providing so-called core platform services, such as online search engines, app stores, and messenger services. 
  • Gatekeepers will have to comply with the do’s (i.e., obligations) and don’ts (i.e., prohibitions) listed in the DMA.
  • The DMA is one of the first regulatory tools to comprehensively regulate the gatekeeper power of the largest digital companies.
• Key Measures:
  • Tighter restrictions on how digital gatekeepers can use people’s data—users must give their explicit consent for their activities to be tracked for advertising purposes.
  • Messaging services and social media platforms teaming up and sharing users. This could mean, for example, Meta-owned WhatsApp users being able to send messages directly to a completely different messaging service, such as Telegram.
  • Presenting users with the option to uninstall preloaded applications on devices.
  • Gatekeepers are banned from ranking their own products or services higher than others in online searches.
• The DMA complements, but does not change EU competition rules, which continue to apply fully.