TIK -EU COURT- TOK : PRECIS

BRUSSELS : EU court rejects TikTok request. Social Media TikTok on Friday lost a court bid to suspend strict new EU rules designating it a market ''gatekeeper'', pending a final ruling on the video-sharing app's legal challenge to the law.

The landmark European Union law would force major tech firms to change their ways in a way that regulators hope will create a fairer market.

Coming into force next month, the Digital Markets Act [ DMA ] designates six '' gatekeepers '' facing the curbs : Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance, the only non-US company.

TikTok filed a legal challenge against its designation in November.

The platform owned by China's ByteDance asked the Luxembourg-based General Court last year to suspend its obligations to comply with the DMA while its case is ongoing.

'' ByteDance has failed to demonstrate the urgency required for an interim order in order to avoid serious and irreparable damage,'' the court said in a statement. [AFP]