Apple and Microsoft argued in 2023 that iMessage and Bing should not be designated under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). After investigating, the European Commission decided on February 13, 2024, not to designate iMessage, Bing, Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Advertising as gatekeeper services. Apple and Microsoft themselves remained DMA gatekeepers for other services.
What Apple and Microsoft challenged
The dispute concerned whether particular services should count as “core platform services” subject to the DMA’s gatekeeper obligations—not whether Apple and Microsoft should be exempt from the law altogether.
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- Apple: challenged the proposed designation of iMessage, its messaging service.
- Microsoft: challenged Bing and also submitted arguments concerning Edge and Microsoft Advertising.
The Commission opened investigations rather than immediately accepting or rejecting the companies’ arguments. Its eventual decision was not to designate the four services. In legal terms, they were not removed from a finalized list; the Commission decided they did not qualify after assessing the cases. The Commission’s February 13, 2024 announcement explains the outcome.
How the DMA decides which services are gatekeepers
The DMA is an EU law intended to make digital markets fairer and more contestable. It covers defined types of services, including search engines, operating systems, app stores, browsers, messaging services and online advertising. The law distinguishes the company designated as a gatekeeper from the particular core platform service that must follow the relevant obligations. A designation is the Commission’s legal decision that the conditions apply to a company and service.
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The standard quantitative presumptions include at least 45 million monthly active end users and 10,000 yearly active business users in the EU. The company must also meet either the EU turnover test—at least €7.5 billion in annual EU turnover in each of the preceding three financial years—or the market-capitalization test of at least €75 billion. The framework also considers whether the position is entrenched and durable. The Commission’s DMA overview describes the designation framework and obligations.
Those numbers create a presumption, not an automatic final answer in every case. A company can argue that a service is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users. The Commission may investigate that rebuttal under Article 17(3) of the DMA. In the Apple and Microsoft cases, the central question was the role of each service as a gateway—not simply whether a company had crossed a user-count threshold.
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Why iMessage was not designated
Apple argued that iMessage was not sufficiently important in the EU to qualify. It had not publicly disclosed a current EU-specific iMessage user figure; global estimates do not establish the service’s role in the EU market.
In its assessment, the Commission found that iMessage was not an important gateway for business users to reach end users in the EU. The service is limited to Apple devices, and its overall EU usage appeared relatively low compared with major rivals. The Commission also considered the reach and intensity of use of WhatsApp and Messenger, and whether businesses treated iMessage as an essential way to reach customers. The full iMessage decision is available in the Official Journal of the European Union.
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That meant the DMA’s gatekeeper obligations did not apply to iMessage on the basis of this decision. In particular, the Commission did not order Apple to make iMessage interoperable with rival messaging services and then reverse that order.
Why Bing was not designated
Microsoft argued that Bing was a smaller challenger to Google Search and should not face the same DMA obligations as the dominant search engine. September 2023 reporting cited Bing at roughly 3% market share, but that was a contemporary reported figure, not a current or universal EU statistic. Microsoft also argued that search-choice requirements could inadvertently steer Bing users toward Google. That was Microsoft’s policy and competitive argument, not a Commission finding.
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The Commission ultimately concluded that Bing did not qualify as a gatekeeper service. It reached the same non-designation outcome for Edge and Microsoft Advertising. The final decision therefore covered more than the two services named in the original headline.
What obligations were at stake
For services that are designated, the DMA can impose obligations involving interoperability, business users’ ability to communicate offers to customers, data use, self-preferencing, defaults, choice mechanisms, access and portability. The specific requirements depend on the service and the applicable provisions; designation is not merely a fine or a generic antitrust inquiry.
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For iMessage, interoperability with rival messaging services was the most visible potential consequence. For Bing, the debate focused more on search competition, defaults and user choice. Because the Commission did not designate these services, those obligations did not attach to them under the DMA on the basis of the 2024 decision.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Timeline: from challenge to decision
- September 2022: The EU adopted the DMA. The Official Journal text provides the legislative background.
- July 2023: Apple and Microsoft notified the Commission about services meeting quantitative thresholds and submitted rebuttal arguments concerning iMessage, Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising.
- September 5–6, 2023: The Commission designated Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as gatekeepers, while opening investigations into the disputed services. The designation announcement lists the companies and services.
- September 2023–February 2024: The Commission gathered evidence, consulted stakeholders and heard the Digital Markets Advisory Committee.
- February 13, 2024: The Commission decided not to designate iMessage, Bing, Edge or Microsoft Advertising.
- March 7, 2024: The DMA obligations became fully applicable to the services that remained designated. This deadline did not make iMessage or Bing designated services.
- April 29, 2024: The Commission separately designated Apple’s iPadOS as a gatekeeper service, illustrating that service-level decisions can change over time.
- February 5, 2026: In a separate decision, the Commission found that Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated. This later decision is distinct from the iMessage ruling.
What the ruling meant for Apple and Microsoft
The result was limited to the contested services. Apple remained designated for services including the App Store, iOS and Safari; Microsoft remained designated for Windows and LinkedIn. The Commission expressly said the decisions on iMessage, Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising did not change the companies’ broader gatekeeper designations.
Current status as of August 18, 2026: The Commission’s gatekeeper portal lists Apple and Microsoft as designated gatekeepers, while iMessage and Bing are not listed as designated core platform services. The Commission said it would monitor developments, so non-designation should not be read as permanent immunity from future scrutiny.
Why the two cases were different
The cases shared a legal framework but raised different market questions. Apple’s challenge concerned a messaging service restricted to Apple devices and whether businesses relied on it to reach EU customers. Microsoft’s challenge concerned a search challenger competing with Google and whether applying choice-related rules could help the much larger rival. The Commission’s decisions were specific assessments of each service, not a general rule that smaller services or closed ecosystems are automatically outside the DMA.
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