Yesterday, Microsoft announced the Moment 4 update for Windows 11 devices which brought Copilot with it. While Copilot was expected to be available worldwide, Microsoft has excluded the European Union (EU) from the roll out, at least for now, because of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
In case you don"t know, earlier this month the EU added Microsoft Windows along with 22 other services to the gatekeeper list. According to the EU, these services were promoting monopoly and did not have customers" best interests at heart.
In line with the new law, Microsoft decided not to release Copilot in the EU until the company can come up with a solution that complies with the DMA. In a statement to Drwindows [Translated], Microsoft confirmed that it is working on implementing changes to make Copliot compliant with the law:
The first markets for Copilot in Windows include North America, as well as parts of Asia and South America, with the European Economic Area (EEA) coming online as soon as we can provide a service that complies with EEA rules.
Our goal is to make Copilot available in Windows in the EEA as soon as possible, the timeline for which is currently being worked out.
We are working on an ambitious timeline to bring Copilot for Windows to the EEA in full compliance with the DMA, and we will continue to work with the European Commission as these compliance efforts move forward.
Microsoft has begun testing and implementing changes to bring certain services fully compliant with the EU"s Digital Markets Act by March 2024.
The EU had earlier announced that companies with services on the gatekeeper list will have six months to comply with the regulators and promote fair digital practices. It further noted that the failure to comply will result in fines of up to 10% of a company"s worldwide annual turnover and up to 20% for repeat offenses. The commission can also impose structural remedies forcing the sale of business units or acquisitions.
While Microsoft is working on making changes to Copilot, there is still a way for users to enable the service if they are residing in the EU. As pointed out by Computer Base, users in the EU need to download the Moment 4 update. Once the update is installed, they can open Run (Windows+R) and input "microsoft-edge://?ux=copilot&tcp=1&source=taskbar" (without quotes) to launch Copilot.
This will not enable Copilot on the device so you will need to repeat the steps every time you want to use Copilot. You can, however, create a shortcut with the same command and run it to save time. Unfortunately, this is the only way to use Copilot in the EU until Microsoft finds common ground with the EU regulators.