Apple Faces New EU Regulations on Ads and Maps Services

The European Commission has started a formal review of whether Apple Ads and Apple Maps qualify as gatekeeper services under the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, opening a new regulatory front for one of the world’s most closely watched tech ecosystems.

The decision could force Apple to reshape how its advertising and mapping tools work for millions of users and business partners across the bloc.

Officials confirmed that both Apple Ads and Apple Maps crossed the DMA’s basic thresholds for review, including more than 45 million monthly active users and a market valuation above 75 billion euros at the group level.

If the Commission confirms gatekeeper status, Apple would have six months to adapt these services to a tougher rulebook that aims to ensure fairer digital markets and easier switching between rival offerings.

What would DMA gatekeeper status mean for Apple Ads and Maps?

Under the Digital Markets Act, gatekeepers are large digital platforms that act as important gateways between businesses and consumers, and they must comply with detailed obligations designed to improve contestability and fairness in core platform services.

The law already covers services such as app stores, search engines, and social networks, and it gives regulators broad enforcement tools, including significant fines and behavior remedies.

If Apple Ads and Apple Maps receive gatekeeper designations, Apple would have to ensure that third-party services can interoperate more easily with its own tools and that rivals are not disadvantaged by defaults or self-preferencing inside its ecosystem.

In practice, this could mean greater technical access for competing mapping, navigation, and advertising providers, and stricter limits on how Apple combines and uses data from across its devices and platforms for targeting and measurement.

Did you know?
The EU can fine repeat DMA violators up to 20 percent of their global annual revenue if they systematically breach gatekeeper obligations.

How did Apple Ads and Apple Maps trigger EU scrutiny now?

The current review follows formal notifications that Apple submitted to the European Commission, confirming that its Ads and Maps services meet the thresholds for potential gatekeeper status under the DMA.

Those criteria include at least 45 million monthly active end users in the EU, more than 10,000 yearly business users, and a global market capitalization of more than 75 billion euros across the corporate group.

Once a company acknowledges that its services clear those quantitative lines, the Commission has 45 working days to decide whether to apply the gatekeeper label, taking into account qualitative factors such as the role of the service as a gateway and the durability of its position.

Apple’s App Store, iOS, and Safari had already been classified as gatekeepers two years earlier, and that earlier decision forced changes such as support for alternative app marketplaces and additional payment options in the EU.

Why is Apple challenging the EU's gatekeeper assessment?

Despite its own notifications, Apple has made clear that it disagrees with the Commission’s preliminary view that Apple Ads and Apple Maps should be considered gatekeepers under the DMA.

The company has filed formal rebuttals arguing that the law is intended to address entrenched market power, which it says these services do not possess in Europe.

For advertising, Apple stresses that its Apple Ads business has a relatively small share of the EU digital ad market compared with heavyweights such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and X, and that it does not rely on cross-service data pooling in the way regulators fear.

On the mapping side, Apple argues that Apple Maps usage in Europe trails rival products like Google Maps and Waze by a wide margin and that it therefore cannot be seen as an unavoidable gateway between businesses and consumers in the region.

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What changes could EU regulators demand from Apple services?

If the Commission ultimately confirms gatekeeper status, Apple would face a six-month implementation window to bring Apple Ads and Apple Maps into compliance with the DMA’s detailed obligations.

Those obligations could require Apple to open interfaces more widely to competitors, reduce friction for users who want to switch to rival mapping or navigation apps, and avoid conditions that steer advertisers or developers preferentially toward Apple’s own services.

In advertising, regulators could push for restrictions on how Apple uses device-level data and first-party information to target ads, especially in relation to the iOS App Tracking Transparency framework that already reshaped third-party tracking.

For mapping, the Commission may look at how Apple sets defaults, how it ranks or highlights its own services in search results, and how easily business users can connect with potential customers through competing location platforms that need access to core features on Apple devices.

How might this EU decision shape global tech regulation next?

The investigation into Apple Ads and Apple Maps sits within a broader shift in Brussels from traditional competition enforcement toward proactive platform regulation through the DMA.

The law has already been used to police Apple’s app distribution rules, and it forms part of a larger EU digital strategy alongside the Digital Services Act and other sector-specific initiatives.

Other jurisdictions are watching how the DMA plays out, especially as it tests remedies that could later inspire similar frameworks in the United Kingdom, India, and parts of Asia.

A decision that extends gatekeeper status to Apple’s advertising and mapping services would signal that regulators are ready to treat more specialized tools as structural gateways, not just flagship platforms, which could influence how global tech firms design and roll out new products.

Regulators and industry participants now face a tense review period, since the Commission has only 45 working days to issue a final decision on the gatekeeper question for Apple Ads and Apple Maps.

Whatever the outcome, the case will help define the outer limits of the DMA and will shape how large technology groups calibrate their services, their data strategies, and their relationships with developers and advertisers in Europe in the years ahead.