ComparisonEU

DMA vs GDPR gatekeeper data obligations compared

Use this comparison to separate DMA duties for designated gatekeepers and core platform services from broader GDPR privacy compliance.

Focused on Article 5 consent and personal-data combining, Article 6 data access and portability, Article 8 compliance-by-design, and Article 11 compliance reports.

Author
Sorena AI
Published
May 9, 2026
Updated
May 9, 2026
Sections
4

Structured answer sets in this page tree.

Primary sources
5

Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata
Sorena AI
Published May 9, 2026
Updated May 9, 2026
Overview

The DMA and GDPR can touch the same login, consent screen, advertising product, API, or data-sharing request, but they do different jobs. The DMA comparison starts with whether the undertaking is a designated gatekeeper and whether the service is a listed core platform service. GDPR remains relevant to personal-data processing; this page keeps GDPR claims high-level and uses the DMA text only where it expressly refers to GDPR definitions, consent, personal data, or compliance with data-protection rules.

Side-by-side comparison

DMA vs GDPR: concrete differences for platform data work

Use these rows to decide whether a data, consent, advertising, portability, or access issue is a DMA gatekeeper obligation, a GDPR privacy obligation, or both.

Review all sources
First framework
Digital Markets Act

DMA duties in this comparison apply to designated gatekeepers for the core platform services listed in their designation decisions.

Second framework
GDPR

GDPR remains the broader EU data-protection regime for personal-data processing; this page only states GDPR points grounded by the DMA sources.

Comparison row 1

Scope boundary

Digital Markets Act

Start with Article 3 designation and the specific core platform service listed for the gatekeeper. The same undertaking may have DMA duties for one listed service and different treatment for another service.

GDPR

Start with personal-data processing and the organisation's role in that processing. GDPR analysis does not depend on being a DMA gatekeeper.

Operational implication

Run the DMA scope test and the GDPR processing-role test separately before assigning controls or reusing evidence.

Comparison row 2

Covered actors

Digital Markets Act

Article 5(2) restricts listed practices by gatekeepers: online-advertising processing of third-party-service end-user personal data, combining personal data across services, cross-using personal data across services, and signing users into other gatekeeper services to combine personal data, unless the DMA consent condition is met.

GDPR

GDPR supplies the referenced meaning of consent and remains relevant to lawful personal-data processing. Do not infer wider GDPR tests from this page beyond the DMA's express references.

Operational implication

A consent screen for a gatekeeper may need both a GDPR privacy review and a DMA Article 5(2) review of the specific gatekeeper practice and user choice.

Comparison row 3

Trigger

Digital Markets Act

Article 6(10) requires the gatekeeper, upon request and free of charge, to provide business users and authorised third parties with effective, high-quality, continuous and real-time access to relevant aggregated and non-aggregated data, including personal data only under the conditions stated in the DMA.

GDPR

GDPR remains relevant when the data is personal data, including consent where the DMA requires end users to opt in to sharing.

Operational implication

Treat the API, entitlement, consent capture, data-category list, and request log as DMA evidence; link to GDPR records only for personal-data handling.

Comparison row 4

Core obligations

Digital Markets Act

Article 6(9) requires effective portability, free of charge, for data provided by the end user or generated through the end user's activity in the relevant core platform service, including tools and continuous real-time access.

GDPR

GDPR has its own data-portability right, but the DMA source grounds this page only for the DMA Article 6(9) gatekeeper obligation and its relationship to GDPR as applicable law.

Operational implication

Do not satisfy Article 6(9) only by pointing to a generic privacy download page; test whether the relevant CPS data, third-party authorisation flow, and continuous access requirement are covered.

Comparison row 5

Evidence record

Digital Markets Act

Article 11 requires the gatekeeper to provide a detailed and transparent compliance report, a non-confidential summary, and at least annual updates. The Commission template asks for CPS-by-CPS and obligation-by-obligation evidence.

GDPR

GDPR accountability records may support parts of the evidence, but a GDPR record alone is not an Article 11 report because Article 11 is tied to DMA Articles 5, 6, and 7.

Operational implication

Maintain a mapped evidence pack: CPS, DMA article, implemented measure, product or engineering change, consent or user-journey artifact, data source, indicator, owner, and linked GDPR record if relevant.

Comparison row 6

Timing and deadlines

Digital Markets Act

Articles 5(9), 5(10), and 6(8) create DMA duties for gatekeepers around advertiser and publisher information, performance measuring tools, and data needed for independent verification of advertising inventory.

GDPR

Where advertising data includes personal data or profiling, GDPR analysis remains a separate privacy workstream. The DMA sources here do not support detailed GDPR advertising tests.

Operational implication

Separate advertising-product evidence into DMA information-access evidence, GDPR privacy evidence, and any commercial confidentiality review.

Comparison row 7

Enforcement

Digital Markets Act

The Commission is the DMA enforcement authority for gatekeeper obligations, designation, Article 11 reports, specification processes, and non-compliance proceedings.

GDPR

GDPR enforcement is not described in detail by the DMA grounding used for this page; route privacy escalations through the organisation's GDPR governance and relevant supervisory-authority process.

Operational implication

Avoid penalty tables unless separately grounded. For this page, route DMA issues to the Commission-facing DMA owner and GDPR issues to privacy governance.

Comparison row 8

Overlap and reuse

Digital Markets Act

Article 13 prohibits conduct that undermines effective compliance with Articles 5, 6, and 7 and specifically addresses making rights or choices unduly difficult or using interface design to subvert user or business-user autonomy.

GDPR

GDPR review may also examine interfaces for valid consent and transparent processing, but this page only grounds the DMA anti-circumvention requirement and the DMA's references to GDPR consent.

Operational implication

Review consent prompts, choice screens, default settings, request forms, API access, and warning messages for both DMA effectiveness and GDPR privacy requirements where personal data is involved.

Comparison row 9

Practical decision rule

Digital Markets Act

Start with Article 3 designation and the specific core platform service listed for the gatekeeper. The same undertaking may have DMA duties for one listed service and different treatment for another service.

GDPR

Start with personal-data processing and the organisation's role in that processing. GDPR analysis does not depend on being a DMA gatekeeper.

Operational implication

Run the DMA scope test and the GDPR processing-role test separately before assigning controls or reusing evidence.

Practical decision rule

How to use the comparison in a product review

  • Name the gatekeeper and listed core platform service before applying a DMA row.
  • Identify the affected DMA obligation: Article 5 consent and data-combining limits, Article 6 data access or portability, Article 8 compliance demonstration, Article 11 reporting, or Article 13 anti-circumvention.
  • Run GDPR analysis separately for the personal-data processing, using privacy records outside this DMA comparison where needed.
  • For shared evidence, label the exact DMA article and the exact GDPR record it supports instead of treating one as proof of the other.
Section 1

Start with designation and core platform service scope

A DMA analysis is not triggered by every personal-data processing activity. The DMA applies to core platform services provided or offered by gatekeepers to business users established in the Union or end users established or located in the Union.

For a product review, first identify the designated gatekeeper, the exact core platform service listed in the designation decision, and the Article 5, 6, or 7 obligation affected by the change. Then run the GDPR review separately for the personal-data processing affected by the same product change.

  • Use the Commission gatekeepers page to confirm current designated gatekeepers and core platform services before relying on a DMA obligation.
  • Do not treat GDPR status as a shortcut for DMA scope; a controller or processor can have GDPR duties without being a DMA gatekeeper.
  • Do not treat DMA scope as a substitute for GDPR analysis; Article 8 requires DMA compliance measures to comply with applicable law, including GDPR where relevant.
Section 3

Data access and portability are DMA product obligations, not just privacy rights

Article 6 creates operational duties that often require engineering work: access to performance measuring tools and advertising data, end-user data portability, and business-user access to aggregated and non-aggregated data generated in the context of relevant core platform services.

The GDPR comparison should stay precise. GDPR may also govern personal-data processing, but the DMA adds competition-focused duties for gatekeepers to make particular data, tools, APIs, or access channels available in the core-platform-service context.

  • Article 6(9) covers effective portability for data provided by the end user or generated through the end user's activity in the relevant core platform service.
  • Article 6(10) covers business-user access to aggregated and non-aggregated data, including personal data where the DMA conditions are met and end users opt in to such sharing.
  • Use the Commission resources-for-businesses page to find public examples of gatekeeper resources for interoperability, data portability, and data access.
Section 4

Article 11 reports are the DMA evidence spine

GDPR accountability records and DMA Article 11 reports can share facts, but they should not be merged into one generic evidence file. Article 11 requires every gatekeeper to provide the Commission with a detailed and transparent report describing measures implemented to ensure compliance with Articles 5, 6, and 7, plus a non-confidential summary.

The Commission's Article 11 template turns the comparison into concrete evidence: separate annexes for each core platform service and each applicable obligation, compliance statements, supporting data and internal documents, implementation dates, product and geographic scope, technical and engineering changes, user-interface changes, terms changes, consultation, testing, indicators, and privacy or data-access safeguards where applicable.

  • For DMA work, maintain a CPS-by-CPS obligation matrix that maps each Article 5, 6, or 7 duty to implemented measures and supporting data.
  • For GDPR work, maintain privacy records in the relevant GDPR system of record and cross-reference them only where they support a DMA compliance measure.
  • When a DMA measure changes consent forms, user journeys, privacy policy terms, APIs, ranking parameters, data flows, or data-retention policies, store those artifacts with the Article 11 evidence pack.
Recommended next step

Separate DMA gatekeeper evidence from GDPR privacy records

Sorena can help structure DMA Article 5, Article 6, and Article 11 evidence so product, legal, privacy, and engineering teams can see where GDPR records support the DMA work and where they do not.

Primary sources

References and citations

digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu
Referenced sections
  • Commission page grounds the current public list of designated gatekeepers and core platform services.
"core platform services"
digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu
Referenced sections
  • Commission legislation page identifies the DMA rules for gatekeeper designation and implementation of obligations and prohibitions.
"main rules"
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