European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton speaks during a news conference at the European Union office in San Francisco, California, on June 22, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

BRUSSELS - Alphabet's Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft have notified the European Commission that they qualify as gatekeepers under new EU tech rules, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Tuesday.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which came into force last November, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a 75 billion euros market capitalization are considered gatekeepers providing a core platform service.

Companies labeled as gatekeepers will be required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices

Samsung and TikTok owner ByteDance also said they meet the EU thresholds, Breton said.

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"Europe is completely reorganizing its digital space to both better protect EU citizens and enhance innovation for EU startups and companies," Breton said in a statement.

The Commission will confirm the gatekeeper designation by Sept 6 after checking the data provided by the companies. They will then have six months to comply with the DMA rules.

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Booking.com said it expects to meet the gatekeeper threshold by the end of the year and will then notify the EU executive.

Companies labeled as gatekeepers will be required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices.

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They will not be allowed to favor their own services over rivals' or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps, two rules that will hit Google and Apple hard.

Companies can be fined up to 10 percent of annual global turnover for DMA violations.