On Thursday, TikTok joined Meta (META.O.) in appealing against the “gatekeeper” position under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA is an EU regulation that brings in stricter standards for technology businesses and makes it simpler for customers to migrate between rival services. TikTok joined Meta (META.O) in appealing against the “gatekeeper” status.
On Wednesday, Meta contested the “gatekeeper” designations assigned to its Messenger and Marketplace platforms. However, the company did not examine the status of Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp.
The European Union selected 22 “gatekeeper” services in September. Six different technology companies are running these services, including Microsoft (MSFT.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Google, Amazon (AMZN.O), Meta, and ByteDance’s TikTok.
Apple has not yet provided any remarks about its strategy, unlike competitors Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, which all chose not to contest their designations. The deadline for filing an appeal is November 16th.
“Our appeal is based on the belief that our designation risks undermining the DMA’s own stated goal by protecting actual gatekeepers from newer competitors like TikTok,” the organization added.
“Far from being a gatekeeper, our platform, which has been operating in Europe for just over five years, is arguably the most capable challenger to more entrenched platform businesses.”
The app for sharing videos has stated that it does not produce annual sales in the European Economic Area greater than 7.5 billion euros ($8.13 billion).
According to the DMA, organizations that provide a fundamental platform service and have a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros are considered gatekeepers. These companies must also have more than 45 million monthly active users.
The company claimed it was labeled a gatekeeper due to the worldwide market capitalization of its parent company, ByteDance, which mainly depends on the performance of business lines that do not even function in Europe.
ByteDance, based in China, recently completed a transaction in which it repurchased shares held by workers in the United States. As a result of this transaction, the firm is now valued at $223.5 billion.
TikTok, which has more than 134 million monthly users, stated that it is a competitor in digital advertising and not an incumbent and that the European Commission did not undertake any market study regarding its identification as a dominant player in this market.
