---
title: "EU’s Designation of AWS and Azure as Core Platform Services Escalates Weaponization of Digital Markets Act, Says ITIF"
summary: |-
  The European Commission is stretching the DMA to target cloud infrastructure, raising the stakes for U.S.-EU tech tensions.
date: "2026-06-25"
issues: ["Antitrust"]
content_type: "Press Releases"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2026/06/25/eu-s-designation-of-aws-and-azure-as-core-platform-services-escalates-weaponization-of-DMA/"
---

# EU’s Designation of AWS and Azure as Core Platform Services Escalates Weaponization of Digital Markets Act, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following the European Commission’s [preliminary determination](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_1444) that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure (Azure) should be designated as core platform services under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joseph V. Coniglio, senior counsel and director of antitrust and innovation:

> The Commission’s preliminary determination is unjustified. Neither AWS nor Azure meets the DMA’s user requirements that nearly every other designated core platform service satisfied. Instead, the Commission decided to stretch its authority by relying on more subjective criteria in a transparent effort to bring cloud infrastructure under the DMA’s purview.

> Neither firm is dominant in the dynamic and growing cloud services market, which the EU should want to flourish, not stifle with regulation. Indeed, both firms face intense competition from Google, CoreWeave, Oracle, IBM, as well as many other small but active and expanding players.

> Today’s news merely reflects the next chapter in the DMA’s clear pattern of targeting America’s leading digital firms. Should AWS and Azure be designated, 92% of the DMA’s core platform services with be offered by U.S. technology companies. By contrast, only one is European.

> The continued weaponization of the DMA by the Commission will only increase calls for U.S. policymakers to retaliate, including through measures under [Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act](https://itif.org/publications/2026/06/10/the-case-for-using-section-301-to-retaliate-against-discriminatory-eu-policies/)—an unfortunate but increasingly justified response unless the DMA is radically scaled back.

> To avoid adding fuel to the fire during an already turbulent period in transatlantic relations, and at a time when U.S.-EU cooperation to counter China could not be more important, the Commission must abandon its effort to expand the DMA to cloud services and end its ongoing targeting of America’s leading technology firms.

Contact: Sydney Mack, [press@itif.org](mailto:press@itif.org) 

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2026/06/25/eu-s-designation-of-aws-and-azure-as-core-platform-services-escalates-weaponization-of-DMA/*