EU Spares Apple Maps and Apple Ads - MacRumors
Skip to Content

EU Spares Apple Maps and Apple Ads

The European Commission today said it found that Apple Maps and Apple Ads should not be designated as "gateways" under the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Apple Maps Icon
In a press release, the European Commission said that Apple Maps and Apple Ads are not big enough individually to qualify as "important gateways between business users and end users," and therefore the platforms will not be subject to stricter regulations. This follows an investigation that began in late November.

"This assessment is based on a number of considerations, including that Apple Maps has a relatively low overall usage rate in the EU, and that Apple Ads has very limited scale in the online advertising sector in the EU," the European Commission said.

Apple as a whole is still considered a "gatekeeper" under the Digital Markets Act.

Apple Ads and Apple Maps will have more in common soon, as Apple reportedly plans to start showing ads within Apple Maps search results as soon as this year.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

7 weeks ago
The EU is rules-driven. This decision is not "sparing Apple Maps" as stated in the headline, it is just an application of the rules. End of discussion.

Some people like to endlessly criticise the EU, but really everything is rather straightforward ... follow the rules.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MysteriousStain Avatar
7 weeks ago
I’m beginning to think the EU is just a business association for lawyers
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
7 weeks ago
Translation: "we don't see enough money in it for us to pursue any action. At the moment."
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zenman12 Avatar
7 weeks ago

Bad decision, but I know most of y’all hate the EU for forcing Apple to do good things.

Hopefully that isn’t the case here, unless you REALLY love Apple platforms getting riddled with ads
I like the EU when it comes to Apple. Giving them the good ol’ beatdown. They’re the reason for usb-c cables. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thadoggfather Avatar
7 weeks ago

God I wish we had an EU. Something they was more competent than what we got now.
Do you? Might wanna vacation in Europe and see how it goes.

Most parts have become a little dicey to say the least and makes US look like a unified architecture, well oiled machine.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The_Gream Avatar
7 weeks ago

I like the EU when it comes to Apple. Giving them the good ol’ beatdown. They’re the reason for usb-c cables. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Hey. Fun fact, Steve said Lightning was the Apple phone cable for the next decade. Guess what, Apple put USB type C in their phones at the end of that decade.

I am not saying the EU didn’t do good in making USB type C the standard. The USB protocol is a mess though and not every Type-C cable is the same and nothing was ever done about fixing the labeling until recently when the USB standards board finally updated their requirements.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)