By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS Zalando, Europe's biggest online fashion retailer, on Tuesday sued the European Commission for putting it in the same category as Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms regarding new and tough EU online content rules.

Under rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) which came into force last year, Zalando was labelled a very large online platform (VLOP) because it has more than 45 million users.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton in April labelled 19 online platforms and search engines including five Alphabet subsidiaries, two Meta units, two Microsoft businesses, Twitter, Alibaba's AliExpress and Zalando as VLOPs.

Germany's Zalando, the only European company on the list, contested the labelling methodology and took its case to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's top court.

The company said the Commission had failed to take into account the hybrid nature of its business model and the fact it does not present a systemic risk of disseminating harmful or illegal content from third parties.

"The European Commission misinterpreted our user numbers and failed to acknowledge our mainly retail business model. The number of European visitors who connect with our Partners is far below the DSA's threshold to be considered as a VLOP," Zalando CEO Robert Gentz said in a statement.

Zalando said it has around 31 million 'average monthly active recipients of its service', corresponding to its Partner Program and Connected Retail Program, below the DSA threshold of 45 million users.

The Commission declined to comment.

Breton met Gentz last week and subsequently tweeted that success comes with responsibility.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Christina Fincher)