On Wednesday 27 September, the EU General Court rejected the request by digital giant Amazon to not be obliged to offer its users recommender systems not based on profiling, under the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13064/18).
However, the General Court did rule in favour of suspending Amazon’s obligation to keep a public register of advertisements, as provided for in the DSA.
On 11 July, Amazon also brought an action before the General Court challenging its designation by the European Commission as a ‘very large online platform’ under the DSA (see EUROPE 13064/18).
The American company felt that it did not meet the DSA criteria, which, in its view, were designed for “very large companies with advertising as their primary revenue and that distribute speech and information”. The General Court will still have to rule on this issue, but the procedure launched is expected to take several months.
Amazon is not the only company to have decided to challenge its designation as a ‘very large online platform’. On 27 June, online retailer Zalando took the case to court, claiming that the Commission had “misinterpreted” the number of its users and had “failed to take account of its business model, which is mainly based on retail sales” (see EUROPE 13211/44).
To see the order, go to https://aeur.eu/f/8tr (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)