The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has now followed the EU’s playbook and categorized Apple and Google as qualifying for regulation, plus potentially subject to incredibly lucrative fines.
UK Parliament – image credit: Parliament
UK Parliament – image credit: Parliament
There was never any question that UK would not emulate Europe and this part of its Digital Markets Act. The only question was over what synonym the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would use in place of the EU’s “gatekeeper” term to describe Big Tech firms.
As revealed in July 2025, the CMA has gone for saying certain firms have “Strategic Market Status” (SMS). What hasn’t been revealed is what the criteria is that would designate Apple and Google as SMS, but ignore Amazon and Microsoft.
