TikTok asks EU court to suspend EU gatekeeper label until its ruling

BRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Chinese conglomerate ByteDance’s TikTok has asked Europe’s second highest court to suspend its designation as a gatekeeper under onerous new EU tech rules until judges rule on its challenge against the label.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires TikTok and other designated gatekeepers Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google, Meta Platforms (META.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices.
They are not allowed to favour their own services over rivals’ or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps.
TikTok last month challenged the EU decision at the Luxembourg-based General Court, saying its designation risks undermining the DMA goal of protecting gatekeepers from newer competitors like itself.
“We have applied for interim measures,” a spokesperson said.
The bar for the court to approve interim measures is very high. Companies must show that situation is urgent and that they would suffer irreparable harm without an interim measure.
Meta and Apple have also sued the Commission over their gatekeeper status.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Barbara Lewis
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An agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 20-year veteran at Reuters. Her stories on high profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted companies’ shares and helped investors decide on their move. Her knowledge and experience of European antitrust laws and developments helped her broke stories on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, numerous market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has previously reported on Greek politics and companies, when Greece’s entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the international stage, as well as Dutch corporate giants and the quirks of Dutch society and culture that never fail to charm readers.