Apple’s challenge against the European Union’s designation of its App Stores and iOS platform as “gatekeepers” was dismissed by Europe’s top court, according to Reuters (a subscription is required to read the article).
The term “gatekeeper” applies to large digital platforms with over €75 billion market capitalization, €7.5 billion annual turnover, and over 45 million monthly European Union users. The term is used in conjunction with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
In December 2025 Apple told the General Court in Luxembourg, the EU’s second-highest court, that the new competition regime unlawfully forces changes to the iPhone, iMessage, and the App Store. Apple says the DMA forces obligations that are incompatible with protections of security, privacy, and property rights under EU law. The tech giant says the law places “hugely onerous and intrusive burdens” on designated gatekeepers, which includes itself as well as Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance, and Booking.
On May 30 Apple submitted a challenge to the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg. The company argued that the DMA requirements force it to share sensitive user data with competitors. Apple says this creates a variety of security risks.
The DMA is a European Union regulation, effective as of May 2023, designed to make digital markets fairer and more contestable by curbing the power of major online platforms, known as “gatekeepers.” It imposes strict obligations on large tech companies—such as Apple—to allegedly prevent them from abusing their market position, thereby fostering competition and enhancing consumer choice.
The EU is an economic and political union of 27 democratic European nations, created in 1993 to “foster peace, stability, and economic prosperity.” It operates a single market allowing free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, with a shared currency, the euro, used by many members
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