European Commission lines up Amazon and Microsoft for cloud gatekeeper status

The European Commission has preliminarily designated AWS and Azure as DMA gatekeepers despite neither meeting standard quantitative thresholds, citing entrenched user bases, lock-in effects, and high switching costs. If finalized, the designation would impose interoperability, data access, and competition obligations, with fines up to 10 percent of global turnover for non-compliance. Both companies are contesting the findings before any designation becomes final.