How Digital Markets Act Plans to Reshape Tech Landscape

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a legislative initiative by the European Union (EU). It aims to regulate digital platforms by allowing competition in the market and eliminating unfair dominance by tech giants.

At its core, the DMA is focused on reshaping how "gatekeeper" platforms work in the EU. These gatekeepers were given months to provide a proposal and how they would make changes to comply with the regulation.

Now that the DMA is fully enforced, several companies are working to enjoy the new market freedom they have been wishing to have. On the other hand, some tech giants like Apple are still trying to go around it.

Since the DMA is finally here, there are more reasons why several developers are looking forward to its rules that could reshape the digital platform industry.

Increased Competition Among Companies

The DMA's main goal is to increase fair competition among digital platform companies. Over the years, big tech companies managed to establish a key role in the workflow of app development. This allowed them to make their own policies that were sometimes challenging for small-time app developers.

Through the DMA, the European Commission targets to increase competition in the tech sectors by allowing small players to have the same opportunity and playing field to compete even with big tech companies.

Fairer Market Dynamics

There are a lot of concerns about unfair practices by the digital gatekeepers. Oftentimes, these companies used self-referencing and leveraged their dominance to eliminate potential competitors.

The prohibition of these practices is possible through the DMA as it plans to create fairer market dynamics. It will also open a good and competitive landscape for the digital economy.

Promotion of User Choice, Control

Due to the DMA, gatekeepers are forced to ensure interoperability with other platforms. These tech giants should allow users to easily transfer their data to competing services.

For instance, EU users will now have the option to use an alternative marketplace that will offer them cheaper subscriptions or payments. This also gives developers the option to put their apps where it would benefit both the company and their consumers.

Regulatory Scrutiny, Legal Fines

Since the implementation of DMA, the regulations will always keep an eye, especially for the gatekeepers. The companies are required to comply with the provisions to continue their operations.

This also puts pressure on the companies to avoid violating the DMA since it could lead to millions or even billions of fines once the Commission proves they are in violation.

Boosted Innovation

Since the DMA pushes companies to make several changes, this could potentially boost innovations that were once prohibited due to the policies of the gatekeepers. Fortunately, this will allow the developer to create strategies that will increase their sales and, at the same time, comply with the regulation.

As for the tech giants, this could also spark innovation for them as they try to adjust and accommodate their policies based on the DMA, opening a new experience for EU users.