What faster Digital Markets Act enforcement could mean for Spain

Consumers: more choice, but also more decisions

For consumers in Spain, the most visible effect could be earlier access to real choices in services they use every day: search, app stores, messaging, marketplaces and online advertising systems . In principle, faster enforcement should make it harder for a dominant platform to keep users locked into its own defaults if the DMA requires more open alternatives.

The trade-off is user experience. Esade notes that the DMA requires platforms to let users decide whether their data are processed and to offer a less personalised alternative; it warns that applying this policy could significantly affect targeted advertising and shift revenue between companies .

In practice, users may see more explicit decisions about consent, personalisation and data use. That can be a gain if the options are clear. It can also become friction if platforms present choices in a confusing or repetitive way.

Spanish media: possible leverage, not guaranteed revenue

The DMA is not a media law. Its relevance for Spanish publishers comes through the platforms that sit between content, audiences and advertising: search engines, social networks, online advertising systems and other core platform services .

If enforcement moves faster and reduces gatekeeper bottlenecks, some media groups could gain more room to negotiate distribution, visibility or monetisation. But that should not be read as a promise of higher traffic or higher advertising income for every publisher.

The likely effect would be uneven. Some outlets might benefit from weaker dependence on dominant intermediaries. Others could face a more complicated advertising market, especially if consent and data-use changes reshape targeted advertising. Esade’s warning about possible revenue transfers in targeted advertising is especially relevant here .

For media companies, the opportunity would not only be regulatory. It would also be strategic: building stronger direct relationships with readers, subscribers and advertisers rather than relying entirely on platform traffic.

Startups: better routes to market if the gates really open

Spanish startups could be among the clearest beneficiaries of faster enforcement. Many young companies depend on app stores, search engines, marketplaces, messaging services or online advertising to reach users. Those services fall within the DMA framework when provided by designated gatekeepers .

If the new rights for business users are enforced earlier and effectively, startups could get better chances to compete in distribution, product discovery, integration and customer acquisition . That matters especially when access to users is shaped by a platform with enormous market power.

Still, the DMA does not automatically turn a startup into a winner. If compliance is slow, hard to use or mostly formal, the benefit may remain legal rather than practical. Startups that rely heavily on highly targeted advertising could also be affected by the same consent and data changes that may disrupt the advertising market .

Tourism: bookings, visibility and dependence on intermediaries

Tourism is one of the sectors where the Spanish impact could be easiest to understand. Hotels, agencies, comparison sites and activity providers often depend on search, online marketplaces, advertising systems and booking platforms to reach travellers. The DMA covers categories such as search engines, online marketplaces and online advertising when they are core platform services provided by gatekeepers .

The tourism debate is already linked to the DMA. SmartTravel describes the law as a framework intended to promote competition and protect consumer rights by regulating large companies designated as gatekeepers . Booking Holdings was designated as a gatekeeper in May 2024, and Booking.com had to comply with its DMA obligations from 14 November 2024, according to eucrim .

Faster enforcement could therefore bring earlier changes in how tourism businesses are displayed, ranked or connected with customers on major booking and discovery platforms. But, again, there is no automatic outcome. Much depends on how intermediaries redesign their interfaces and rules, and whether the alternatives are useful for both businesses and travellers.

The risk of moving fast but measuring badly

Speed is valuable only if it improves real compliance. The danger is that platforms add extra screens, procedures or formal options that satisfy the letter of the law without reducing their role as bottlenecks.

There is also an economic transition risk. Changes to data processing, consent and personalised advertising could alter the targeted advertising market and move revenue from some companies to others . In Spain, that would affect media, startups, retailers and tourism businesses differently, depending on how much they rely on targeted ads, platform-mediated traffic or direct customer relationships.

What Spain should watch

The key metric should be effectiveness, not just speed. Gatekeeper compliance reports matter because they are supposed to explain how platforms meet their DMA obligations . But Spanish businesses and regulators should also look at what happens in the product itself.

Four questions are especially important:

• Consumers: Are choices about data, consent and alternative services clear, understandable and genuinely usable?
• Media: Do search, social and online advertising platforms reduce bottlenecks, or simply rearrange dependency?
• Startups: Do the new rights for business users translate into practical access to distribution, discovery and customers?
• Tourism: Do search and booking platforms, including Booking.com where DMA obligations apply, create conditions for more real competition?

Bottom line

For Spain, faster DMA enforcement would be positive if it brings forward real changes: more choice for consumers, more room for startups, less dependence for businesses that need dominant platforms, and a more balanced digital environment for sectors such as media and tourism.

But it would not guarantee higher revenues, lower costs or a painless transition. The decisive distinction is between formal compliance and effective market opening. The DMA is already in force; the question now is whether enforcement turns Europe’s largest digital gateways into markets that are genuinely more contestable and fairer, as the Commission intends .