Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure have fallen under scrutiny for recent widespread outages by the European Union (EU) as the body launches an investigation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The European Commission (EC) wants to determine if any of the hyperscalers should face new regulations under the Act, such as increased interoperability with rival software, better data portability for users, and restrictions on tying and bundling apps and services.

Bloomberg sources familiar with the matter initially mentioned that the investigation also included Google Cloud. However, an official release published by the Commission on Tuesday showed no mention of Google Cloud as part of the market investigation.

The European Commission confirmed opening three market investigations on cloud computing services under the Digital Markets Act, with two assessing whether AWS and Microsoft “should be designated as gatekeepers for their cloud computing services,” despite “not meeting the DMA gatekeeper thresholds for size, user number, and market position.”

The largest cloud providers have so far avoided the DMA because a large share of their business comes from enterprise contracts, making it difficult to determine the number of individual users – a key benchmark used to consider big tech services for extra oversight.

The third market investigation will assess if the DMA can effectively tackle practices that may limit competitiveness and fairness in the EU’s cloud computing sector.

Teresa Ribera, transition EVP at the European Commission, said: “We want this strategic sector to grow on fair, open, and competitive terms. That’s why today we are opening investigations into whether Amazon’s and Microsoft’s leading cloud computing services should be subject to the Digital Markets Act’s obligations.

“We will also look at whether the DMA’s existing rules need to be updated so Europe can keep pace with fast-evolving practices in the cloud sector,” she added.

The investigation comes amid a wave of recent outages, with parts of the web not working today due to a major Cloudflare outage.

Recent AWS outages also brought down thousands of sites and applications, including encrypted messaging service Signal, banking sites, the Ring doorbell company, and even smart beds.

Microsoft Azure also faced a major outage in October, taking down a considerable portion of the internet, including NatWest, Outlook, and Minecraft.

When approached for comment, an AWS spokesperson told SDxCentral: “We're confident that when the European Commission considers the facts, it will recognize what we all see – the cloud computing sector is extremely dynamic, with companies enjoying lots of choice, unprecedented innovation opportunity, and low costs, and that designating cloud providers as gatekeepers isn’t worth the risks of stifling invention or raising costs for European companies.”

A Microsoft spokesperson said: “The cloud sector in Europe is innovative, highly competitive, and an accelerator for growth across the economy. We stand ready to contribute to the European Commission's market enquiry.”