Two years in, the European Commission says the Digital Markets Act is working

The European Commission published its first formal review of the Digital Markets Act on April 28, 2026, concluding that the regulation remains fit for purpose and has produced measurable benefits for businesses and users in the two years since its main provisions came into force.

The review, conducted by the Directorate-General for Competition and the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, drew on more than 450 contributions from three separate consultations gathering input from small and medium-sized businesses, the designated gatekeepers, civil society organisations, and academic researchers.

The headline finding, that the DMA works, is politically useful for a Commission that has staked considerable institutional credibility on the regulation's ability to change the behaviour of large digital platforms without triggering the years-long legal paralysis that characterised earlier European competition enforcement. Whether the review constitutes a fully independent assessment of the law the Commission itself designed is a legitimate question. The Commission is evaluating its own regulation, and the review's conclusions are framed around documented benefits rather than costs or unintended effects.

That said, the specific outcomes the review points to are real. Users in the European Economic Area now have the legal right and practical ability to transfer their data when switching between services. Major browser and search engine markets have opened; alternative products are being chosen by users as defaults on devices at a measurably higher rate than before the DMA's choice screens came into effect. Third-party app stores are now operating on platforms that were previously closed. New messaging applications entered markets that were functionally inaccessible before interoperability obligations came into force. Connected device manufacturers are getting access to operating system features that gatekeeper platforms had previously withheld.

None of these outcomes fully resolve the structural tensions in the DMA's design. The regulation treats digital markets as stable enough that ex ante obligations imposed on a designated gatekeeper remain relevant two years after designation. In practice, AI is reshaping search, operating systems are incorporating AI agents as core features, and the interoperability obligations written in 2024 may need significant revision to address the 2026 market. The Commission acknowledged this directly, naming cloud services and artificial intelligence as the key focus areas for future work under the DMA's objectives.

The timing of the review is deliberate. April 2026 is a period of active European technology policy discussion, with the Commission's Digital Omnibus package having proposed adjustments to multiple digital regulations and the AI Act's high-risk provisions approaching their August 2026 application date. The DMA review appears designed in part to signal that the Commission will not dilute its digital market regulation at a moment when political pressure from the United States to reduce regulatory friction on large technology companies has become explicit.

The six designated gatekeepers under the DMA are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. Four are headquartered in the United States. The DMA is, functionally, European regulation of American platforms, and the Commission's insistence that it is delivering benefits also functions as an argument for why that regulation should remain in place. The Commission currently has active proceedings against Alphabet related to Google Search and Google Play, against Apple related to its App Store and browser choice obligations, and against Meta related to its advertising consent model.

For European technology companies, the DMA's practical significance depends on whether interoperability and data portability obligations genuinely reduce the lock-in effects that have made building alternatives to Google, Apple, and Meta commercially difficult. The Commission says that change is happening. Two years is a short period in which to measure structural market transformation, and the next review, expected before 2030, will be the more informative one. The current review provides a foundation for enforcement and a signal of political intent. What it does not yet provide is a full account of whether the DMA produces competitive European markets or simply imposes process requirements on platforms that remain dominant.

Sources

• Review highlights Digital Markets Act remains fit for purpose and has positive impact — European Commission, 2026-04-28
• Commission publishes first review of Digital Markets Act, finding it fit for fostering competition and innovation in digital markets — EU Law Live, 2026-04-28
• DMA okay: The Briefing for 28 April 2026 — Global Competition Review, 2026-04-28