The social media platform x Elon Musk's could face a series of new rules from the European Union, that impose restrictions on the behavior of some of the world's largest technology companies, after the company told regulators that it could meet the criteria to fall within the scope of the bloc's Digital Markets Act.
The DMA, which goes into effect Thursday, lays out a series of do's and don'ts for companies like Alphabet Inc.'s Google Search, Apple's Safari, Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook of Meta Platforms Inc., among others. . It could also apply to Musk's X, as well as the hosting platform of Booking Holdings Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., the European Commission said late Friday.
The DMA tIt aims to prevent competition violations by technology companies before they take hold. It will apply to companies with a significant impact on the EU market, with more than 45 million monthly active users and 10,000 annual commercial users.
Under the rules, it will be illegal for certain platforms to favor their own services over those of their rivals. They will be prohibited from combining personal data in their different services and will be prohibited from using the data they collect from third-party merchants to compete against them, among other prohibitions and obligations.
The Brussels-based watchdog has 45 business days to decide whether or not to include X, Booking.com and ByteDance within the scope of the rules.
X, ByteDance and Booking did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment.
ByteDance previously lost a lawsuit in which it tried to stop enforcement of the rules.
