The Digital Markets Act (DMA) provides for stricter rules for so-called gatekeepers. The aim is to create more fairness on the European market. The vacation giant Booking.com is now feeling the effects of this.
Stricter rules for Booking.com
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was launched by the EU to curb the anti-competitive power of large companies in the tech industry. The focus is on so-called gatekeepers. With Booking.com, there is now a new addition to the still relatively small list.
In its public statement, the EU Commission states: “Based on the self-assessment submitted by Booking.com on March 1, 2024 that the company meets the relevant thresholds, the Commission has determined that this central platform service constitutes an important interface between businesses and consumers”.
Booking.com proved to be quite cooperative on its way to becoming a gatekeeper. After all, the travel giant announced back in 2023 that it would meet the criteria the following year. The company thus joins a total of six companies and 22 services that the EU Commission has already classified as gatekeepers. These include well-known companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft.
Booking.com is transparent
But what exactly will change for Booking.com? Companies that are classified as gatekeepers must comply with a strict set of rules. The resulting requirements must be met within six months. Failure to do so could result in high compensation payments, which are calculated on the basis of annual turnover.
Much more serious, however, are the mandatory business decisions that follow for gatekeepers. The best example is probably Apple. The tech company was forced by the DMA regulations to allow other app stores such as Setapp. Booking.com now also has to take a different path.
The official communication from the EU Commission states that the company must now offer its “end users more choice and freedom and business customers fair access to gatekeeper services”. How exactly Booking.com intends to achieve this goal is currently still unknown. However, as the classification for the booking portal was no surprise, preparations are likely to have already been made behind the scenes.
Will X soon also be a gatekeeper?
The future of X, which once went by the name of Twitter, is apparently also being hotly debated in the EU. According to the Commission, the short message service should already meet the necessary criteria for classification as a gatekeeper. However, unlike Booking.com, the company acquired by controversial tech billionaire Elon Musk in October 2022 is still reluctant to recognize the classification.
After all, the company does not consider the necessary requirements to have been met. In particular, X does not consider itself to be an interface between consumers and companies. The EU Commission wants to form its own opinion on this. A market investigation lasting a total of five months is to clarify the issue.
