The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into Booking.com over fake listings

The European Commission on Wednesday, 21 October, opened a formal investigation into the Booking.com platform. The investigation is launched under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The check is meant to show how diligently the company tackles fake accommodation listings and fraud.

The investigation covers three areas: fictitious properties and illegal listings; protection of booking and guest data from phishing; and the labelling of paid promotion, that is, whether a user can tell who paid for a property to be shown in the search results. The end date of the investigation and the amounts of possible fines were not announced.

Henna Virkkunen, Vice-President of the European Commission for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, said: “Europeans should be able to book a holiday without fear of falling victim to fraudsters.” Booking.com is the largest booking platform in Europe; the company said it is cooperating fully with the Commission and considers security and data protection its priorities.