X logo, EU flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. REUTERS
BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s X will not be designated as a gatekeeper under landmark EU tech rules known as the Digital Markets Act which would have subjected it to an onerous list of obligations, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
The European Commission, which opened an investigation into online social media platform X in May, will announce its decision next week, the people said.
The EU competition enforcer declined to comment.
X, formerly known as Twitter, had previously told the Commission that even though it met the criterion regarding the number of users to be classified as a gatekeeper, it does not qualify for the other criterion as an important gateway between businesses and consumers.
Its response prompted the Commission’s investigation in May to look further into the issue.
Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab, Apple Meta Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, TikTok owner ByteDance and Booking.com have been designated as gatekeepers, among others.
The DMA requires gatekeepers to make their messaging apps interact with rivals, let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices, and are not allowed to favor their own services over rivals or risk fines as much as 10% of their annual global turnover.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey and Louise Heavens
