EU Spares Apple Maps and Apple Ads

The European Commission today said it found that Apple Maps and Apple Ads should not be designated as "gateways" under the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Apple Maps Icon
In a press release, the European Commission said that Apple Maps and Apple Ads are not big enough individually to qualify as "important gateways between business users and end users," and therefore the platforms will not be subject to stricter regulations. This follows an investigation that began in late November.

"This assessment is based on a number of considerations, including that Apple Maps has a relatively low overall usage rate in the EU, and that Apple Ads has very limited scale in the online advertising sector in the EU," the European Commission said.

Apple as a whole is still considered a "gatekeeper" under the Digital Markets Act.

Apple Ads and Apple Maps will have more in common soon, as Apple reportedly plans to start showing ads within Apple Maps search results as soon as this year.

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Top Rated Comments

ChrisMac47 Avatar
3 hours ago at 01:20 pm
The EU is rules-driven. This decision is not "sparing Apple Maps" as stated in the headline, it is just an application of the rules. End of discussion.

Some people like to endlessly criticise the EU, but really everything is rather straightforward ... follow the rules.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
3 hours ago at 01:33 pm
Translation: "we don't see enough money in it for us to pursue any action. At the moment."
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MysteriousStain Avatar
3 hours ago at 01:13 pm
I’m beginning to think the EU is just a business association for lawyers
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zenman12 Avatar
3 hours ago at 01:27 pm

Bad decision, but I know most of y’all hate the EU for forcing Apple to do good things.

Hopefully that isn’t the case here, unless you REALLY love Apple platforms getting riddled with ads
I like the EU when it comes to Apple. Giving them the good ol’ beatdown. They’re the reason for usb-c cables. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ForkHandles Avatar
3 hours ago at 01:27 pm
It also looks like France and Spain are seeing their targets a musk far right, porn filled, publishing empire known as X.

Free speech is all well and good, but if you’re controlling the narrative with algorithms, you could be thought of as a publisher not a server.

I wonder if the EU will take this on. Interesting times
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ClaraStahlbaum Avatar
2 hours ago at 02:01 pm
It is always amusing to me to see people complain about Apple, but yet they continue to buy Apple Products, and are likely typing these angry messages about Apple...from an Apple product.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)