Eu Says Amazon, Microsoft Cloud Services Should Fall Under Digital Dominance Rules

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has preliminarily concluded that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should fall under the EU’s digital dominance rules, in a move that extends Europe’s most powerful tech regulation into cloud infrastructure for the first time.

The decision, which follows a market investigation launched last November, marks an expansion of the Digital Markets Act — which has so far covered consumer-facing platforms, app stores and search engines — into the €220 billion European market for cloud computing services.

Both companies will now have the opportunity to argue why their cloud services should not be designated gatekeepers before the Commission reaches a final decision in the administrative procedure by December.

“These services will only continue to grow in importance, which is why it is essential that we ensure a well-functioning and competitive market,” Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

Designation under the DMA — a bespoke regime that imposes a set of do’s and don’ts on Big Tech service providers — would oblige the companies to make it easier and cheaper for customers to switch to rival providers or to use more than one, and to drop practices that regulators deem unfair.

The Commission is also conducting a third procedure to determine whether the DMA checklist, largely designed for consumer-facing services, is fit for purpose in cloud computing. This is expected to result in recommendations by May 2027.

The recommendation to designate arrives at a politically charged moment: the Trump administration has repeatedly framed European tech regulation as an attack on American companies. Adding two of the most commercially significant U.S. cloud businesses to the gatekeeper list will do little to ease that tension.

Both companies have pushed back on the Commission’s move to designate their services under the DMA. Amazon published a policy blog in early June arguing the regulation simply was not designed for a market like cloud.

“The Commission’s preliminary findings disregard the breadth of cloud services available to European customers and risk deterring European investment and innovation,” said a spokesperson for Amazon Web Services, noting that the EU already has regulated the sector under the Data Act.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said that while the firm has engaged constructively with the Commission, it had concerns that Google Cloud — the third major player in the market — was being left out.

“We remain concerned that ignoring the growing power of Google Cloud and Gemini will tilt the market in a harmful way,” said the Microsoft spokesperson.