The European Union's top court should dismiss TikTok's appeal against its designation as a digital "gatekeeper", a senior court adviser has recommended, in a non-binding opinion that clears the way for the platform to remain subject to the bloc's strictest competition rules for large online platforms.

The recommendation came from an Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. The adviser's role is procedural but influential: Advocates General review the file, test the parties' arguments, and propose an outcome. The judges of the Court remain free to depart from that proposal, though in practice they follow it in the substantial majority of cases.

What did the adviser actually say?

The opinion addresses TikTok's challenge to its classification as a gatekeeper under the EU's platform rulebook, the Digital Markets Act. TikTok had asked the court to overturn the designation, arguing, in essence, that it should not be grouped with the largest incumbents it competes against.

The Advocate General disagreed. The recommendation is that the appeal be dismissed in full, which would leave the designation standing.

Opinions of this kind quote the operative reasoning sparingly, and the headline proposition is blunt: the challenge fails. The full reasoning sits in the published opinion, which now goes to the judges for deliberation.

Why the designation matters

Gatekeeper status is not a label. It carries obligations — data-sharing requirements, prohibitions on self-preferencing, and restrictions on combining personal data across services. For a company of TikTok's scale, these are compliance programmes, not paperwork.

The practical consequence for practitioners is straightforward. If the Court follows the recommendation, as it usually does, TikTok's gatekeeper obligations remain in force and the legal strategy shifts from challenging the designation to negotiating its application. Advisers to other platforms will also read the opinion closely, because it signals how the Court may treat future challenges to designations under the same framework.

In plain words: the adviser thinks TikTok stays on the list.

What happens next?

The Court of Justice will now deliberate and deliver its judgment at a later date, which the institution does not schedule in advance with precision. Until then, the opinion carries persuasive weight only. TikTok remains a designated gatekeeper throughout, and its obligations continue to apply.

One takeaway: an adviser's recommendation is not a judgment, but it is the best available forecast of one.

By Amara Osei, Global Law Wire