Amazon, Microsoft cloud gatekeeper move shows Big Tech influence rests on infrastructure control

August 13, 2026 at 03:18 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

The European Commission's decision to classify Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act reflects a shift in Big Tech's power toward infrastructure control rather than audience size. Regulators cited entrenched market positions, steep switching costs and AI-driven lock-in despite both platforms falling below the usual size thresholds.

The Gatekeeper Move

The European Commission has moved to designate Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, the two cloud arms of Amazon and Microsoft, as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. The label is reserved for platforms with significant market power, but neither service meets the usual size thresholds. Regulators pointed instead to entrenched market positions, steep switching costs, and the growing weight of AI tools and partnerships in locking customers in. AWS and Azure now face obligations under the DMA, which treats cloud infrastructure as a platform layer rather than a utility.

Infrastructure Control

The five companies YouTube, Google, Instagram, Facebook and Amazon rank among the most influential players across mainstream and social media. Their lead is reinforced by control of the channels through which information is created, distributed and discovered. The market shows a settled hierarchy: a top tier of established platforms sits far above the rest, with no middle tier and no new entrant nearing a breakthrough.

AI Discovery Advantage

McKinsey found that generative AI was the primary source of insight for 44% of its users last year, shifting influence toward companies that build AI discovery systems or supply their training data. Among leading brands, those appearing most consistently in AI-generated answers are not necessarily those dominating current media coverage, but those most deeply embedded in AI training data. Perplexity AI, whose sentiment across social and traditional media already beats Google, TikTok and Apple, remains concentrated in specialist and tech communities rather than broader mainstream coverage. At its current pace, it could close much of the gap within a couple years, but for now it sits outside the established top tier.