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Italy opens antitrust probe into Apple’s Cloud Services under EU digital markets rules
Italy’s competition authority has launched a Digital Markets Act investigation into Apple’s cloud services. Regulators are assessing whether third-party cloud providers receive equal access to key Apple hardware and software capabilities used by iCloud. The inquiry reflects growing European scrutiny of cloud competition and interoperability requirements.
Italy’s competition authority has launched a probe into Apple for potentially not complying with EU laws to secure fair competition in the digital market place.
The probe investigates whether or not Apple gives third party cloud service providers the same hardware and software access it does to iCloud used on iPhones and iPads. The regulator said that early indications have been seen of evidence suggesting that rival cloud services providers are not given the same technical capacity that Apple services provide to compete against their rival services.
This investigation is based on EU’s Digital Market Act. The DMA limits market dominance and ensures competition within large technology businesses, creating competitive digital platforms.
Regulators Look at access to the Apple ecosystem
Italy's competition authority has said that it will investigate the DMA’s interoperability requirements on whether or not the company had met its DMA interoperability commitments.
These requirements were put in place to ensure other providers can access the ecosystem at the same standard and evidence will be sent to the European Commission for the investigation to be taken further.
The first Digital Markets Act investigation carried out by the country’s competition watchdog will provide evidence to the EU Commission who take care of the enforcement of the DMA. National regulators have been given power to conduct initial investigation and share their findings with the European Commission.
Increase in cloud scrutiny
There has been a greater examination by EU regulators of the cloud market after earlier this year the EU stated that cloud and AI services will be monitored in relation to DMA enforcement. Authorities have examined current market conditions within rapid growth digital sectors.
Apple have achieved revenue of $391bn in 2025, making it the largest technology firm in the world. It has been previously involved in other competition investigations from the EU and was fined 98.6M in Italy by the competition authority in December 2025 with regard to app store policies, a verdict that Apple has already stated they will challenge.
The new investigation by the Italian authorities was made public, although Apple itself has not yet released any statement on it.
Source: Reuters
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