Beach hotel – Photo by Bin im Garten
(BRUSSELS) – The EU continued to bring major online services under its digital remit Monday, including Booking.com as an online ‘gatekeeper’, while opening a market investigation into social networking service X.
Booking.com is designated a ‘gatekeeper’ under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) for its online intermediation service, following a Commission review after receiving the notifications of the three companies regarding their potential status as gatekeepers on 1 March 2024.
On the basis of a Booking.com self-assessment that it meets the thresholds, the Commission has established that this core platform service constitutes an important gateway between businesses and consumers.
In parallel to this decision, the Commission has opened a market investigation to further assess a rebuttal submitted on 1 March in relation to online social networking service X. This rebuttal argues that, despite meeting the thresholds, X does not qualify as a important gateway between businesses and consumers. The investigation is now expected to be completed within five months.
Another rebuttal was submitted concerning the online advertising service X Ads. Here the EU executive concluded that, although X Ads meets the quantitative designation thresholds under the DMA, this core platform service does not qualify as an important gateway. The Commission has therefore decided not to designate X Ads.
Finally, the Commission also received on 1 March notification of ByteDance’s online advertising service TikTok Ads, including a rebuttal request. Here the Commission concluded that, although TikTok Ads meets the quantitative designation thresholds under the DMA, this core platform service does not qualify as an important gateway. Consequently, the Commission decided not to designate TikTok Ads either.
Booking.com now has six months to comply with the relevant obligations under the DMA, offering more choice and freedom to end users and fair access of business users to the gatekeeper services. Booking has six months to submit a detailed compliance report in which it outlines how it complies with each of the obligations of the DMA. However, some of the DMA’s obligations start applying with immediate effect, for example, the obligation to inform the Commission of any intended concentration in the digital sector.
If a gatekeeper were not to comply with the obligations laid down by the DMA, the Commission can impose fines up to 10% of the company’s total worldwide turnover, which can go up to 20% in case of repeated infringements. In case of systematic infringements, the Commission is also empowered to adopt additional remedies such as obliging a gatekeeper to sell a business or parts of it or banning the gatekeeper from acquisitions of additional services related to the systemic non-compliance.
