The rhyme and reason of gatekeeper designation under the Digital Markets Act

We present a comprehensive account of the first 34 designation decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). We first explain how the Commission delineates and classifies core platform services (CPSs) for assessment and how it explains the rationale for finding several gatekeepers in certain CPS segments. We then turn to how the Commission determines gatekeeper status and the criteria that may be used to contest gatekeeper status. Having shown how the decisional practice and the first General Court judgment add substance to the DMA text, we discuss what designation and non-designation decisions tell us about the nature of gatekeeper power.