TikTok challenges its designation as access controller

TikTok announced today that it has filed an appeal against the European Commission’s decision to include it in the category of «gate keepers». A day earlier, Meta had done the same. Apple could follow.

«The six access controllers designated under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Regulation on Digital Markets, have only a few hours left to lodge an appeal against the European Commission’s decision made last September. Today, November 16th, TikTok announced that it contested being classified as one of the ‘access controllers’, following Meta’s challenge by 24 hours. Any platform falling within this category, as defined in the DMA, must adhere to new and rigorous obligations starting from March 6, 2024. Among these rules are requirements such as ensuring interoperability of their services with competing applications or sharing data».

In its statement, TikTok explains that it disagrees on «several aspects of the designation (and the designation process itself) ». The Chinese social media platform, which has been present in Europe for five years, argues that it does not hold a dominant position as required by the DMA. The platform believes it is more of a challenger whose designation would hinder its growth and its ability «to compete with the real controllers».

The new European regulation imposes much stricter obligations on the most important services (messaging, search engines, operating system) that are supposed to put an end to the abuses of the dominant position of the digital giants. Only Google and Microsoft have so far agreed to play the game by not contesting the fact of being part of the access controllers.

Source: Tiktok press release

Tabitha Milton