The Digital Markets Act turns 1: one year of pushing for Device Neutrality
2025 marks one year of the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act. In our input to the European Commission’s public consultation we welcome the DMA as a milestone in regulating large tech corporations, but we stress the hurdles and challenges for making Device Neutrality a reality.
The FSFE has a goal for 2048: Device Neutrality must be a reality, a reality in which everyone has the freedom to install and uninstall any software in any device. When the Digital Markets Act (DMA) emerged as a proposal for legislation, we already understood this law would represent a new era for regulating tech corporations in the European Union. We got involved from the very beginning, paving the way for Free Software to be considered a central topic in DMA enforcement. With the DMA, big tech may no longer keep European citizens and consumers in lock-ins, hampering interoperability and denying software freedom.
“The DMA is a milestone in breaking the dominance of gatekeepers, but it will only succeed if it protects Device Neutrality and empowers smaller developers and Free Software communities. True contestability means giving everyone, not just the biggest players, a fair chance to shape the future of our digital environment. We will continue to make sure that the DMA is implemented in a developer-friendly way” affirms Lucas Lasota, FSFE’s Legal Programme Manager.
The DMA entered in force in 2024, and the FSFE became a key stakeholder in its enforcement. We worked closely with the European Commission by submitting expert positions during investigations against non-competitive business practices from gatekeepers. We coordinated alliances with Free Software developers and projects, industry representatives and civil society organisations during regulatory processes for software and hardware interoperability, and contributed to a formal complaint defending the right to uninstall apps in Android. Last but not least, we are intervening in a key court case where we are pushing for holding Apple accountable under the DMA in a developer-friendly way.
Now that the law is being formally evaluated, the FSFE reflects on what has worked well and what still needs to be improved in a joint submission with European Digital Rights (EDRi), with key contributions from the Panoptykon Foundation and Privacy International, to a public consultation from the European Commission.
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A milestone in digital market regulation
The DMA has been under attack since its inception. Not only has big tech been trying to hinder the law by any means but also the Trump administration has been threatening the European Union because of the law. The FSFE sees the DMA as a substantial victory for regulation of digital markets, which over the last decade have become extremely concentrated, unfair, and exclusionary. However, not everything has been seamless, and we have kept a close look on how the European Commission has been implementing the law.
Expanding the scope of gatekeepers
While the DMA is a landmark, its thresholds currently restrict its application to the largest global corporations. The FSFE stresses that smaller companies can also exercise gatekeeping power, locking users and businesses into proprietary ecosystems, limiting interoperability, and restricting software freedom. We urge the Commission to propose an extended scope of the DMA in the next iterations of the law to cover companies engaging in predatory behaviour, including device manufacturers and internet service providers that enforce strict walled gardens.
Device Neutrality and operating systems
Device Neutrality should be central for DMA. End-users must be free to fully remove pre-installed proprietary applications and to install alternative operating systems across all devices, including mobile phones. Current practices by dominant gatekeepers such as Apple and Google undermine this freedom by technically and contractually prohibiting effective sideloading or by imposing restrictive conditions on independent developers (link), or by technically hampering uninstallation of software (link complaint). The FSFE calls for expanding Article 6(4) of the DMA to explicitly include vertical interoperability for operating systems and to guarantee effective sideloading without gatekeeper control.
Alternative app stores and interoperability
The DMA rightly introduces obligations on gatekeepers to enable alternative marketplaces, sideloading, and interoperability. However, the FSFE highlights that these obligations are often undermined in practice. Apple, for example, continues to impose exclusionary financial and administrative requirements on alternative app store operators, while maintaining discretionary control over distribution. Such practices contradict the letter and spirit of the DMA. The FSFE insists that interoperability must not be reduced to a request-based process but should be interoperability by design: open, transparent, and free of gatekeeper discretion. In the same way, alternative app distribution should be effective and the EU Commission should not allow gatekeepers to impose restrictive and unnecessary burdens on smaller and Free Software developers.
Supporting smaller Free Software developers
The enforcement of the DMA must not focus solely on competition between large industry players. Europe’s digital ecosystem relies heavily on Free Software communities, SMEs, non-profit organisations, and individual developers. For these actors, gatekeeper barriers such as complex procedures, account requirements, or fees are disproportionately harmful. The FSFE calls on the Commission to explicitly design compliance solutions that take into account the needs of non-profit and community-led projects.
What’s next?
The DMA sets a global benchmark for digital regulation. To fully achieve its goals of contestability and fairness, it must safeguard Device Neutrality, strengthen obligations on interoperability, and ensure that Free Software developers and small actors can meaningfully participate and compete in Europe’s digital markets.