Gatekeeper
A designation under the EU Digital Markets Act for large platforms that control key digital services and must comply with additional obligations.
What Gatekeeper means
Under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), a gatekeeper is a large platform company that has been designated as controlling important gateways between businesses and consumers. Companies designated as gatekeepers include Alphabet (Google), Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and ByteDance (TikTok). Gatekeepers must comply with specific obligations including: not combining personal data across services without consent, allowing third-party interoperability, providing advertisers with performance measurement tools, not self-preferencing in rankings, and sharing certain data with business users. For advertisers, gatekeeper obligations mean greater data access, more transparent ad auctions, and restrictions on how platforms can use advertiser data for their own competitive advantage.
Related terms
Digital Markets Act
An EU regulation targeting large platform 'gatekeepers' with rules on fair competition, data portability, and advertising transparency.
Digital Services Act
An EU regulation imposing transparency, content moderation, and advertising rules on online platforms and search engines.
Transparency Report
Regular reports published by platforms detailing content moderation actions, government requests, and advertising enforcement statistics.