TikTok suffered a setback on Tuesday when a senior adviser to the EU's General Court recommended upholding the European Commission's decision to designate the platform a "gatekeeper" under the Digital Markets Act.

The opinion comes from the advocate general assigned to TikTok's challenge before the General Court of the EU in Luxembourg. TikTok had asked the court to annul the Commission's gatekeeper designation, which subjects the platform to the DMA's strictest conduct obligations. The adviser backed the Commission. The opinion is not binding. The judges of the General Court will deliver the final ruling at a later date, and they often follow the adviser's reasoning.

What does the designation actually require?

The Digital Markets Act entered into force in 2022. It targets large online platforms that the Commission designates as gatekeepers — companies controlling core digital services with entrenched market power. Once designated, a platform must comply with a suite of obligations, including data-separation rules, interoperability requirements and limits on self-preferencing. Fines for breach can reach 10% of global annual turnover.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance. The company has argued it does not hold the durable, entrenched market position the DMA contemplates, pointing to intense competition in the social media sector. The advocate general rejected that line of argument, according to the report, and concluded the designation should stand.

What changes for practitioners?

For antitrust and platform-regulation teams, the opinion signals that the General Court is likely to take a broad view of the Commission's gatekeeper-designation power. Clients operating large consumer-facing platforms in the EU should treat designation risk as real and prepare compliance frameworks accordingly, because litigating the label itself now looks like an uphill fight.

The takeaway: the adviser's backing of the Commission narrows TikTok's path, though only the court's final judgment will settle it.

By Grace Kim, Global Law Wire