By Foo Yun Chee
Brussels (Reuters) – The largest online fashion distributor in Europe, Zalando, lost its trial against the rules of the European Union (EU) in terms of online content on Wednesday, which strengthens the efforts of EU technological regulators to force online platforms to do more to combat illegal and harmful content on their platforms.
Zalando continued the European Commission after being appointed as a very large online platform (VLOP) as part of the Digital Services Regulations (DSA), which places it in the same category as Google of Alphabet and Meta Platforms and the subject to expensive DSA requirements.
The company had argued that it was distinguished from the other giants of online sales and that it was a hybrid service made up of both an online store and an online market place, selling its own products as well as those provided by partners.
The court of first instance, based in Luxembourg, did not follow its arguments.
“The court rejects Zalando’s appeal against the appointment of its eponymous platform as a very large online platform,” said the court.
The judges said that the EU technological regulatory authority was right to assess the average monthly number of Zalando active users at more than 83 million and not to around 30 million as it claimed on the basis of the gross value of sales generated within the framework of its partnership program.
They indicated that this was due to the fact that Zalando herself was unable to distinguish, among the more than 83 million people who used its platform (including Zalando Retail and the partnership program), those which were effectively exposed to information provided by third-party sellers as part of the partnership program for those who were not.
Zalando can appeal on matters of law before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest European jurisdiction.
Zalando’s appeal is the first formed by a company against the DSA. The court will rule next week on the appeals brought by Meta and Tiktok against the royalties imposed on them to cover the costs incurred by the Commission to control their respect for the DSA.
(Foo Yun Chee, Mara Vîlcu for the , edited by Augustin Turpin)
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