The investigation will explore whether Booking.com’s efforts to identify and manage phishing scams is sufficient.
An investigation into online travel service provider Booking.com is underway, according to the European Commission.
The Commission, which is the EU’s technology and competition enforcer is opening the enquiry following a preliminary probe and the analysing of risk assessment reports from the past four years.
EU tech regulators, backed by the Digital Services Act (DSA), are investigating to see if Booking.com is taking sufficient enough measures to identify fraudulent listings and phishing scams on its website, in a manner that complies with the EU’s online content rules.
The investigation’s primary focus will be on fraudulent and non-compliant listings, phishing scams that exploit Booking.com’s reservation and guest data and paid for boosted listings that have not been clearly listed as advertisements.
In a statement, the Commission explained, “The platform may also have breached the DSA when it comes to transparency because it did not clearly label as ads those listings whose providers paid for a higher ranking in search results shown to users.”
Europeans should be able to book their holidays without fear of being scammed,” said Henna Virkkunen, the executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
She added, “The Digital Services Act sets clear responsibilities on platforms to address these risks and we must ensure that the leading booking platform in Europe takes those responsibilities seriously.”
The Commission has stated that the investigation will be carried out “in-depth” and as a “matter of priority” and during that time, it will continue to gather data by sending additional requests for information, conducting interviews and inspections.
The group can then take further action if necessary related to interim measures and non-compliance-based decisions. The Commission can also accept commitments offered by Booking.com to resolve the matters subject to the proceedings.
The DSA aims to create a digital space that respects citizen and consumer rights. Under these circumstances businesses must, among other criteria, ensure steps are taken to verify vendors, be transparent about advertisements, prevent deceptive design tactics and have a usable system for the flagging of illegal content.
In July of this year, the European Commission issued a fine of €550m to online marketplace AliExpress for failing to prevent the sale of illegal, unsafe or counterfeit products on its platform.
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