UK competition and digital-markets regulation: the CMA’s digital markets and strategic market status regime, the DMCCA 2024, concurrent competition powers, and where it meets data and payments.
In short: AI Office enforcement covers a company only where it built the AI system on its own general-purpose AI model, or where the system operates inside a platform designated under the Digital Services Act. Every other business remains subject to national regulation. The difference matters, because the AI Office can enter and seal premises…
In short: Radio selection services are voice-activated services that let a user pick a UK radio station and play it by spoken command. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) proposed on 15 July 2026 to designate Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri under section 362BB of the Communications Act 2003. The consultation…
In short: The Google DMA fine of €890 million, imposed by the European Commission on 23 July 2026, is the first time the Commission has penalised Google under the Digital Markets Act: €460 million for self-preferencing its own results on Google Search under Article 6(5), and €430 million for restricting steering on Google Play under…
In short: The AliExpress DSA EU fine of €550 million, imposed on 20 July 2026, is the first penalty for breaching the systemic-risk duties in Articles 34 and 35 of the EU Digital Services Act. UK law applies to the same listings through Ofcom, the CMA and existing product safety enforcement, though none of those…
In short: DMA specification decisions adopted by the European Commission on 16 July 2026 tell Google exactly how to comply with two Digital Markets Act obligations: opening eleven defined Android features to rival AI assistants by 1 August 2027 at the latest, and sharing anonymised Google Search ranking, query, click and view data with competing…
In short: Software licence exhaustion is the principle that once a copyright owner has sold a copy of its software, it cannot use copyright to control the resale of that copy. On 7 July 2026, in ValueLicensing v Microsoft [2026] EWCA Civ 872, the Court of Appeal dismissed Microsoft’s appeals and allowed a reseller’s competition…
In short: CMA steering conduct requirements, proposed on 30 June 2026, would stop Apple banning, and Google restricting, the way UK app developers point their own customers to cheaper off-platform payment. A separate call for evidence asks how third parties should reach the iPhone’s contactless chip. Both close in late July 2026. By Rob Bratby,…
In short: The EU DSA hosting exemption protects an online intermediary from liability from what its users store, but only while it stays neutral. On 16 June 2026, in Case C-190/24 Coyote System, the Court of Justice held that an intermediary whose algorithm decides how and in what order user content is disseminated, in its…
In short: On 25 June 2026 the European Commission told Amazon and Microsoft that it provisionally regards AWS and Azure as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. That preliminary view is the first move towards DMA cloud gatekeeper designation of a cloud service. The UK looked at the same two firms and chose a lighter…
In short: The Microsoft SMS investigation is the CMA’s inquiry into whether Microsoft has strategic market status in business software. Launched on 14 May 2026 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, it covers Office, Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server and security software. The invitation to comment closed on 4 June 2026 and…
In short: Google search conduct requirements are the CMA’s first behavioural rules on Google’s search business. On 17 June 2026 the CMA imposed Fair Ranking and Data Portability requirements under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 strategic market status regime. Google has six and three months respectively to comply. By Rob Bratby, Managing…
In short: Concurrent competition powers let the FCA, PSR, Ofcom and five other sector regulators apply the Competition Act 1998, not just the CMA. The CMA’s annual concurrency report, published on 2 June 2026, shows that in 2025-26 only two sector regulators ran Competition Act cases, while reform and the PSR-into-FCA merger are about to…