The ‘Big Five’ US tech firms have officially notified the European Commission that they qualify as ‘gatekeepers’ under the EU’s new tech rules.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was introduced by the bloc last November, and specifies that companies with more than 45 million active users and a €75 billion market cap are considered gatekeepers and provide a core platform service. These gatekeepers face enhanced scrutiny around the use and storage of user data, will be required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals, and must let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices under the threat of being fined up to 10% of their global turnover.

In a statement on Tuesday, Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for internal market, confirmed that the ‘Big Five’ – Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft – have notified the EC of their status. Samsung and Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, have also notified the EC, while Booking.com said that it expects to meet the threshold by the end of 2023 after which it will notify the EU executive.

Breton said: "Europe is completely reorganising its digital space to both better protect EU citizens and enhance innovation for EU startups and companies.”

Breton said that the Commission will confirm the gatekeeper designation by 6 September after checking the data submitted by the companies, after which point they will have six months to comply with the DMA rules.

The rules will hit Google and Apple the hardest as mobile platform operators, with the rules requiring them to stop favouring their own services over that of their rivals.

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