Apple Loses EU Court Fight Over App Store Gatekeeper Rules

The ruling leaves Apple’s App Store and iOS subject to the Digital Markets Act, preserving rules designed to open digital markets to greater competition.

The Apple logo during the preview of the redesigned and reimagined Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City on Sept. 19, 2019. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Apple has lost its legal challenge against EU rules designating it as a gatekeeper under an EU law requiring some of the world’s largest technology companies to open their platforms to greater competition.

The EU’s Luxembourg-based General Court said on July 8 that the EU was correct to classify Apple in 2023 as a gatekeeper in relation to its App Store and iOS.

Under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), companies designated as gatekeepers must follow rules intended to make digital markets more open and give rivals a fairer chance to compete. The court said the EU correctly treated Apple’s App Stores across different devices as a single core platform service.

Although Apple argued that its stores for iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and Apple TV devices are different because they serve different hardware, the judges said they all perform the same essential function.

The judges also rejected Apple’s attempt to challenge a DMA provision covering interoperability obligations. They said that provision was not the legal basis for Apple’s designation as a gatekeeper and therefore could not be challenged as part of this case.

Last year, the commission said Apple and Meta had failed to comply with parts of the DMA by failing to comply with rules intended to give consumers the choice of services that use less of their personal data.

According to DMA rules, noncompliance with regulations can result in a period penalty of up to 5 percent of a company’s average daily turnover. The commission fined Apple 500 million euros ($570 million) and Meta 200 million euros ($228 million).

iMessage Challenge

The court also dismissed Apple’s legal challenges relating to iMessage, although for procedural reasons rather than on the substance of the case.

The European Commission initially classified iMessage as a core platform service when it opened a market investigation in 2023.

After completing its investigation, the commission decided in February 2024 not to designate iMessage as a gatekeeper. Apple challenged both the decision to open the investigation and the decision that ended it.

Apple products at an Apple Store in Columbia, Md., on June 20, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The General Court ruled that those challenges were inadmissible because the commission’s classification of iMessage did not by itself change Apple’s legal position.

The judges noted that none of the DMA’s obligations apply to iMessage because the service was never formally designated as an important gateway under the law.

The ruling leaves Apple’s gatekeeper obligations under the Digital Markets Act in place.

The court said Apple can appeal the judgment to the Court of Justice of the European Union, but only on points of law. Any appeal must be filed within two months and 10 days after notification of the judgment.

The Epoch Times reached out to Apple for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.