Glossary
Gatekeeper
Subject areaRules, risk and compliance
A gatekeeper is anyone who controls the passage between those who offer something and those looking for it.
In European Union law it means a company designated by the Commission under the Digital Markets Act (the regulation on digital markets): it runs a platform service, such as a search engine or a marketplace (an online market of many sellers), on which businesses depend to reach customers. The first gatekeepers, designated in September 2023, are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.
Designation brings precise obligations, because a company in that position can set the terms of access for everyone else: among them, not favouring its own services in rankings and letting businesses access the data they generate on the platform. Outside the law the word has a broader meaning: a person or function that filters information, like the editor who decides what gets published or the assistant who decides which supplier reaches the director.
Source: Regolamento (UE) 2022/1925 (Digital Markets Act); Commissione europea, designazione dei gatekeeper del 6 settembre 2023.
An example
A tool manufacturer sells on Amazon, which the European Commission designated as a gatekeeper in 2023. The Digital Markets Act bars the platform from favouring its own services in rankings and gives the manufacturer access to the data its activity generates, so the sales manager can request that data and use it to plan restocking.
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Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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