EU Court Upholds Edge Exemption From DMA Gatekeeper Rules

The European Union's General Court ruled on Wednesday that Microsoft's Edge browser will not be classified as a "gatekeeper" under the bloc's strictest digital competition rules, upholding a 2024 decision by the European Commission. The judgment, delivered in Luxembourg on September 2, 2026, rejected a legal challenge brought by Norwegian browser maker Opera, which had argued that Edge's privileged position on Windows computers made it an essential gateway for businesses to reach users. The court found that the Commission did not err in accepting Microsoft's arguments that Edge, despite meeting the law's quantitative user thresholds, did not function as an important gateway in practice. A key factor was the browser's low market share; in December 2022, Edge accounted for only 5.8% of web page views in the EU, compared to 59% for Google Chrome and 22% for Apple Safari. Judges stated that this low scale of usage reflected the browser's limited importance as a gateway. The ruling also considered technical and market factors.