The European Commission is investigating Booking.com over whether it may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) by not having diligently assessed or effectively mitigated risks related to fraudulent listings and phishing scams.
The investigation will examine whether Booking.com properly assessed the risks of fake or illegal listings, including non-existent properties, impersonation scams and offers that do not comply with consumer protection rules, and whether it has effective systems in place to detect and remove them.
It will look at whether Booking.com has adequately addressed phishing scams. This includes how booking and guest information is shared with accommodation providers, how the platform’s messaging service operates, and whether sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent data misuse and fraudulent payment requests.
The Commission is also investigating whether Booking.com failed to label paid listings as adverts when accommodation providers paid to appear higher in search results. According to the Commission, users should be able to recognise when a listing is an advertisement and see who paid for it and why it appears in their search results.
