US company Booking Holdings added to European Union’s list of for strict digital scrutiny

LONDON (AP) — Booking Holdings, the U.S. company that owns Booking.com and a number of other travel websites, has been added to the European Union’s list of companies now under heightened digital scrutiny. The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said Monday that it’s classing Booking Holdings as an online gatekeeper and that the company’s Booking.com hotel reservation site meets the threshold to be classed as a “core platform service” under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act. The sweeping set of rules is designed to prevent Big Tech platforms from dominating online markets. The company said it has been working with the European Commission and had anticipated the decision. It said it will work constructively with the commission to develop solutions to comply.