DMA Teeth Are Real

Field Notes

Apple is paying €1 million per day for flouting DMA onboarding rules. Meta’s on the hook for €500k daily until it offers a clean “no tracking” mode across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Brussels isn’t bluffing. Every time a gatekeeper tweaks their rules, your acquisition mix shifts. The only antidote is building community, data and experiments you control.

Signal Check

• Gatekeepers now need explicit user consent to combine data across services. Expect more opt-out prompts, which means your paid targeting will get fuzzier.
• App store changes create new distribution lanes (side-loading, alternative payment flows) but only for teams ready to support them.
• DMA compliance hearings are public. Watch what Apple and Meta are forced to ship—it telegraphs the UX patterns your product should adopt.

Marketing Pulse

Diversify. If 80% of your leads still come from Meta ads, you’re asking for whiplash. Spin up experiments on TikTok, newsletters, podcasts and offline stunts. Use the Personal Business Trainer to assign weightings: no channel should exceed 35% of weekly lead flow. Document acquisition stories like a tour manager—where the crowd came from, what merch they bought, why they stayed.

Operations Flow

Update your data map. Label which customer touchpoints rely on gatekeeper APIs (login, analytics, attribution) and sketch fallback plans. Subscribe to DMA enforcement feeds so you learn about changes before they break your stack. Build modular consent flows so users can opt out without breaking personalization.

Innovation Muscle

Treat compliance prompts as creative briefs. Could you design a membership tier that lives entirely off first-party data? Could you experiment with alternative app distribution? Use the trainer to prioritize ideas by impact vs. complexity so you’re not chasing every regulatory rumor.

Experiments for this week

1. Run a “gatekeeper dependence” retro. List every platform you rely on, rating revenue exposure and control level. Set a goal to reduce any single platform’s contribution by 10% this quarter.
2. Prototype a zero-party data experience (e.g., an onboarding playlist or habit tracker) that collects useful signals while feeling like a gift.
3. Write a Dawn Patrol special explaining DMA news in plain language, positioning your studio as the operator translators Europe needs.