This Monday, the European Commission decided to apply a new digital markets law with strict competition rules for “giant” technology content intermediaries to the Booking accommodation platform and is investigating whether it should do the same for X.
In its statement, the community leader indicates that under the new Digital Markets Act, it has appointed “Booking as the controller of access to its online intermediary service Booking.com and has decided not to appoint X Ads and TikTok Ads.”
“In parallel, the Commission has initiated a market study to further evaluate the rebuttal submitted in relation to online social media service X,” it adds.
Such decisions are made following a review process carried out by the European Commission after receiving notifications from the three companies regarding their potential status as intermediaries.
Regarding accommodation booking platform Booking, Brussels notes that “this core platform service represents an important gateway between companies and consumers,” so the company has six months to comply with the new rules.
As for old Twitter, the institution notes that it has “begun a market study to more deeply evaluate the rebuttal” presented by the company that “despite meeting the thresholds, X cannot be considered an important portal between companies and consumers.” , an argument that will now be investigated for five months and which also concerns advertising services.
At the end of March last year, the European Commission opened a non-compliance investigation into Alphabet (owned by Google), Apple and Meta (owner of Facebook) under the new digital markets law, threatening fines of up to 10% of the companies’ turnover. giants” of technological developments, which should be completed within a year.
At issue is the new Digital Markets Act, which applies to gatekeepers, companies that sometimes create barriers between companies and consumers and control entire ecosystems consisting of various platform services, such as online marketplaces, operating systems, cloud services or online search. engines.
The Digital Markets Act, in force in the EU from November 2022, sets the rules for what technology companies with gatekeeper status are or are not allowed to do in the EU. This is a kind of blacklist with rules for these large platforms.
The rules aim to create fair markets in the digital sector by regulating gatekeepers, which are large digital platforms that form gates between business users and consumers whose position may pose barriers.
This definition of content intermediaries includes digital platforms with an annual EU turnover or market value of at least €7.5 billion, operating in at least three Member States and having more than 45 million monthly active users.
Currently, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, iPadOS (Apple’s operating system for tablets), Meta and Microsoft have this designation.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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