Tracking of the gatekeepers designated by the European Commission under the Digital Markets Act (DMA, Regulation EU 2022/1925) and their level of real compliance. The DMA imposes obligations on large platforms with a systemic role —prohibition of self-preferencing, interoperability, no combining data without consent— with fines of up to 10% of global turnover (20% for repeat offenders). The tracker measures the gap between formal designation and effective compliance: which companies were designated, for which services, what investigations they face and what sanctions have been confirmed. Each record documents the company, the service or decision, its status and its official source.
Statistical readings derived from the attributes of each recorded case. All figures come from the documented events; amounts are computed only over cases with a sum expressed in the indicated currency, without converting between currencies.
The Digital Markets Act designated seven gatekeepers —Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft and Booking— and imposed obligations with fines of up to 10% of their global turnover. In April 2025 the first final sanctions arrived: €500 million to Apple, €200 to Meta. This tracker measures the gap between designating a gatekeeper and getting it to comply.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the European Union's most ambitious bet to open the digital ecosystems controlled by big tech. It does not regulate content —that is the DSA's job— but market power: it prohibits a gatekeeper from self-preferencing, requires it to allow interoperability, and bars it from combining its services' data without consent. The incentive to comply is brutal: fines of up to 10% of global turnover, which for Amazon could exceed $60 billion.
This tracker does not narrate the political tug-of-war between Brussels and Silicon Valley. It documents its verifiable acts: who was designated a gatekeeper, for which services, what investigations it faces and what sanctions have been confirmed. The unit of measure is the outcome, not the announcement. Because, just as with GDPR fines, an open investigation is not a final sanction, and a final sanction can end up appealed.
Seven designated gatekeepers, 23 core platform services, and only two final fines so far: €500 million to Apple over App Store rules and €200 to Meta over the 'pay or consent' model, both in April 2025. The gap between the rule's ambition —up to 10% of global turnover— and what has been sanctioned to date remains enormous.
The pattern the tracker reveals is the same that runs through all European digital regulation: the bottleneck is not in writing the law nor in designating the obligated parties, but in enforcement. The Commission designated the first six gatekeepers in September 2023 relatively quickly; but the first final sanctions did not arrive until April 2025, a year and a half later, and only against two companies. Meanwhile, ByteDance appealed its designation —and lost—, Meta got Facebook Marketplace de-designated, and Alphabet remains under investigation for self-preferencing.
For a competition team, a law firm or a company operating on these gatekeepers' platforms, the useful question is not 'what does the DMA say' but 'which obligation is actually being enforced, against whom and with what outcome'. Apple changed its App Store rules under pressure; Meta redesigned its consent model and rolled out a less-data option in January 2026. Those behavioural changes —not just the fines— are the real metric of whether the DMA works.
ByteDance appeals its gatekeeper designation for TikTok before the EU General Court, but loses its bid for interim measures in February 2024. No designated gatekeeper has succeeded in overturning its designation.
The Commission investigates Alphabet over possible self-preferencing in Google Search and over Google Play steering rules that would limit developers from directing users outside the store.
The Commission de-designates Meta for its online intermediation service Facebook Marketplace, reducing the total of designated core platform services to 23.
The Commission fines Meta €200 million over its 'pay or consent' model, which forced EU users to accept personalised advertising or pay a subscription. Meta later agreed to offer a less-data option, rolled out in January 2026.
The Commission issues the first DMA non-compliance decisions and fines Apple €500 million for failing to comply with the App Store steering rules, which prevented developers from informing users of offers outside the store.
The Commission designates Booking as gatekeeper for its online intermediation service Booking.com, with a compliance deadline in November 2024. It is the DMA's seventh gatekeeper.
The Commission extends Apple's designation to include iPadOS, its operating system for tablets, as a core platform service subject to the DMA.
The European Commission designates for the first time six gatekeepers —Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft— under the DMA, over 22 core platform services. They had until 6 March 2024 to comply with the obligations of Articles 5, 6 and 7.
Each record documents a verifiable act in the DMA gatekeeper regime: a designation, a non-compliance investigation, a non-compliance decision with a fine, or a status change (appeal, de-designation). The status —the outcome— is the most differential field: it distinguishes between designated, investigated, sanctioned (final), appealed or de-designated. The amounts are those of the Commission's decision; where a fine is appealed it is noted. No unpublished figures are imputed. Primary source: the European Commission's official DMA portal.