Italy’s antitrust regulator probes Apple over cloud services under EU Digital Markets Act

Italy’s competition authority just opened an investigation into whether Apple gives third-party cloud providers the same access to iPhone and iPad internals that it gives iCloud. The probe, announced on June 16, is the first time the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has flexed its muscles under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

What the investigation is actually about

The AGCM is examining whether Apple’s current setup offers third-party cloud service providers equitable and cost-free access to the essential hardware and software components used by iOS and iPadOS. The DMA, which the EU designed specifically to rein in so-called “gatekeepers,” requires designated platforms to ensure interoperability. Apple was designated as a gatekeeper under the regulation, meaning it must allow competitors to access the same core infrastructure it uses for its own services.

The scope of the Italian probe targets consumer cloud services specifically. Whatever the AGCM finds will be forwarded to the European Commission for further review, making this less of a standalone national action and more of a first domino in what could become a broader EU enforcement chain.

This isn’t Italy’s first rodeo with Apple’s cloud practices, either. The AGCM previously investigated Apple alongside Google and Dropbox back in September 2020 over its cloud storage practices.

Why the DMA changes the game

Before the Digital Markets Act, European regulators had to build antitrust cases from scratch. The DMA flipped the script. It pre-identifies the biggest platforms as gatekeepers and tells them exactly what they must and must not do. Non-compliance isn’t a theoretical antitrust violation. It’s a concrete regulatory breach.

Italy stepping up as the first national authority to pursue a DMA-based investigation signals that EU member states aren’t waiting for Brussels to do all the heavy lifting. The regulation explicitly allows national competition authorities to open proceedings and share findings with the European Commission, creating a decentralized enforcement model.

What this means for investors

If the AGCM determines that Apple has violated the DMA’s interoperability requirements, the findings get escalated to the European Commission, which has the authority to impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual turnover for DMA violations.

Every company designated as a gatekeeper under the DMA, including Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, faces similar interoperability obligations. A successful enforcement action against Apple would essentially create a playbook that regulators can replicate across the sector.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.