EU Court clarifies DMA gatekeeper status for Meta

The EU General Court has partly upheld and partly annulled Meta’s challenge to its designation under the Digital Markets Act. The Court confirmed that Meta’s Messenger service may be treated as a core platform service and an important gateway between businesses and end users.

The judgment supports the European Commission’s position that Messenger has sufficient significance within the EU digital economy to justify gatekeeper obligations. Those obligations are intended to limit unfair practices by large digital platforms and improve contestability for business users and competitors.

Meta succeeded on a separate point concerning Facebook Marketplace. The General Court annulled the Commission’s gatekeeper designation for Marketplace, finding that the Commission had not adequately explained its reasoning. In practical terms, the outcome has limited immediate effect because the Commission had already removed Marketplace from the gatekeeper list after it fell below the relevant user threshold.

The ruling confirms that courts will closely examine the Commission’s reasoning under the DMA, while still giving force to the regulation’s core objective of controlling major digital platforms. Meta said it welcomed the Marketplace finding and is reviewing the Messenger part of the judgment. The decision may still be appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union.