The European Commission has designated digital hotel booking platform, Booking, as a "gatekeeper", giving it a six-month period to fulfil its requisite obligations.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to ensure fairness from online platforms, particularly those wielding considerable influence over the domestic market.
This initiative seeks to ensure these crucial digital gateways between professional users and consumers do not create ‘bottlenecks’ obstructing smaller entities, such as startups – favouring the larger players.
Booking now joins the ranks of tech titans like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.
"Strengthened supervision means holidaygoers can look forward to increased choice, while hotels will enjoy more business opportunities," assured Margrethe Vestager, Competition Commissioner, in a statement.
The Commission, meanwhile, is continuing its investigation into social media network X (formerly Twitter), owned by American tycoon Elon Musk. Despite meeting DMA thresholds, the network argues that it does not function as a significant gateway between businesses and consumers. This investigation is expected to conclude within five months.
