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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will appeal the European Union’s decision to put all of the App Store into the bloc’s new digital antitrust list in what is expected to be the first of several appeals against the Digital Markets Act.
The tech giant will also argue that its iMessage service shouldn’t be subject to closer scrutiny from regulators, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Apple’s (AAPL) appeal is still in the works and could change before the November 16 deadline to file challenges, the news outlet added.
Apple (AAPL) shares rose 1% on Friday.
The DMA prohibits platforms from favoring their services over those of rivals and tech companies will be barred from combining personal data across different services, among other things.
Even with an appeal pending, Apple (AAPL) will still be required to comply with the rules when they take effect on March 6.
In September, the European Commission announced its first list of “gatekeepers” identified by the DMA. Twenty-two services were identified that are owned and operated by six tech conglomerates, including Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Chinese tech giant ByteDance (BDNCE).
At the time, the EC said it had opened an investigation into whether Apple’s (AAPL) iMessage and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bing, Edge and advertising should not be qualified as gatekeepers, despite meeting the thresholds, which include 45M or more active local users, more than €7.5B in annual revenue or a market cap that surpasses €75B.
Earlier this week, Apple (AAPL) filed its annual report and amended its risk factors to include new language around third party developers and potential App Store risks, due in part to the DMA.
The company is also facing several other issues in Europe, including in Ireland, where it is fighting a dispute regarding unpaid taxes to the tune of €13B.
Apple (AAPL) is also dealing with antitrust probes regarding its tap-and-pay technology and the treatment of its rivals music streaming, namely Spotify (SPOT).
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