Report: EU to soon classify AWS and Azure as gatekeepers under DSA | heise online
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The EU Commission is expected to announce the preliminary results of its investigation into US cloud providers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) next week, according to insider sources. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft's Azure are reportedly to be classified as gatekeepers, subjecting these cloud services to stricter rules in the European Union (EU). The final decision on this DMA assessment is expected by the end of 2026.
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This investigation began in November 2025, when the EU targeted the cloud power of US tech giants. The trigger was outages in cloud services with sometimes significant impacts on other internet services. Shortly before, an approximately 15-hour outage of the AWS cloud in the US meant that not only Amazon's own streaming services but also Atlassian, Docker, Epic Games, and the Signal messenger were unavailable or severely restricted. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft Azure also struggled with an outage, preventing air passengers from checking in and interrupting votes in the Scottish Parliament.
As a result, European antitrust authorities have also scrutinized cloud services under the Digital Markets Act for the first time. The major cloud providers, primarily from the US, have so far evaded the EU's Digital Markets Act because a large part of their business is handled through corporate contracts. This makes it difficult to determine the number of individual users. However, this is one of the EU's most important criteria for determining the market power of companies.
No cloud services among gatekeepers so far
The DMA, in effect since November 2022, aims to limit the market power of so-called gatekeepers and make competition fairer. According to the EU regulation, companies that offer central platform services and have a lasting significant influence on the EU internal market are classified as gatekeepers or doorkeepers. So far, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft have been assessed as gatekeepers. However, this applies only to services like app stores and messaging, not to cloud infrastructure.
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This is set to change next week when the EU Commission provisionally classifies AWS and Azure as gatekeepers under the DMA. Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter who wished to remain anonymous. The final results of the investigation are expected to be published later this year, although the timeline is still provisional. The EU Commission and Microsoft declined to comment on the report, while AWS did not respond to a request for comment.
EU regulation angers US government
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As gatekeepers, AWS and Azure would be obliged to ensure interoperability and data portability. This would, for example, simplify switching cloud providers and allow customers to link other services with AWS or Azure clouds, instead of being limited to AWS and Azure offerings. Significant fines could also be imposed if the cloud services are found to be in violation of existing regulations.
Previously, US companies Apple and Meta Platforms had already been fined several hundred million euros by the EU for DMA violations. This, in turn, led to conflicts with the US government, which is increasingly combating data sovereignty initiatives and describes EU regulations like the DMA as an attack on American companies.
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This article was originally published in
German.
It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
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