© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: European flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s X social media platform, TikTok owner ByteDance and Booking (NASDAQ:).com may meet EU criteria subjecting them to tough tech rules as so-called gatekeepers, the European Commission said late Friday, after notifications by the companies.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) designates companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and 75 billion euros ($81 billion) in market capitalisation as gatekeepers providing a core platform service for business users.
Such companies are required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices, among other obligations, starting from March 7.
They are not allowed to favour their own services over rivals’ or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or…