European regulators have reached an agreement on key competitive rules that could reshape most of the business to the world’s largest technology platforms such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
Promotion of news: Negotiations on the Digital Markets Act aimed at addressing what the European Union considers to be a lack of competition in the digital economy ended Thursday in Brussels.
- The European Parliament aims to pass the proposal by the summer. Obtaining the passage of this law, first introduced in 2020, is a top priority for France’s current EU President Emmanuel Macron, whose term is about to end.
Important reason: Among many other rules, the rules …
- To target your ads based on your personal data, require your company to obtain “explicit consent.”
- Instant messaging platforms such as Apple’s iMessage and Meta’s WhatsApp require you to exchange messages with smaller services.
- A large platform is needed to give users the freedom to choose their browser, search engine, and personal voice assistant.
What they are saying: Marguerite Vestager, Vice President of the European Commission, said: On twitter.. “Gatekeepers now have to take responsibility.”
Quick take: Europe is promoting strict antitrust laws — the rest of the votes are largely considered formal. Big Tech, which has worked hard on DMA, has nothing left to do, but find a way to comply.
detail: DMA identifies digital services that are considered “gatekeepers” and presents rules, obligations, and penalties for companies that violate the law.
To be subject to DMACompanies need to do the following:
- It provides “core platform services” such as search engines, social networks, messengers, and social media.
- It has a market capitalization of at least € 75 billion ($ 82.6 billion) or annual sales of € 7.5 billion.
- The EU has at least 45 million end users per month and 10,000 business users annually.
Fine for violations Up to 10% of global sales and 20% for repeated infringements. The Commission may also prohibit “gatekeeper” companies from acquiring others for a period of time.
Big picture: The United States is working on a proposal for its own technology antitrust law in Congress and has filed a proceeding against Big Tech.
- But Europe is already going even further, despite US authorities’ concerns that the proposal discriminates against US companies.
- European lawmakers are also not upset by concerns that promoting DMA could undermine US-EU cooperation in Internet policy in the face of increasingly autocratic Russian and Chinese governments. Hmm.
What they are saying: “This was a very difficult debate,” Guido Robrano, senior vice president and director of Europe for the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents technology companies, told Axios.
- Garrett Workman, senior director of European affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, told Axios that “regulations are aimed at companies, not anti-competitive practices, which is a very bad precedent. “.
- In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said, “We support much of DMA’s ambitions for consumer choice and interoperability, but some rules may reduce innovation and choices available to Europeans. I am concerned that there is. ” The company will “take the time to study the final text and work with regulators to implement it.”
Flashback: When the General Data Protection Regulation, a European privacy law, was passed in 2016, businesses had to comply for 24 months.
- This time, it takes companies only six months to understand compliance after the DMA legal document has been completed and passed by Congress.
- The European Commission should work with companies that are considered gatekeepers to know how to comply with the law without being sued or fined, Workman said.
conspiracy: Many US companies, including Mozilla and Microsoft, support DMA with medium-sized companies such as Yelp and Genius.
- “I love the idea that DMA gives consumers and businesses more freedom to deploy their software of choice, use more alternatives, and stay free from big tech silos.” Said Owen Bennett, Mozilla’s senior public policy manager. I told Axios.
in the meantime, Big Tech representatives argue that Russia’s role in technology in the invasion of Ukraine and the conflict underscores the need for further cooperation between the United States and the EU on international technology policy.
- “If international conflicts with the consequences of massive cybersecurity can’t connect the industry to world leaders, nothing will happen,” said Carl Holshouser, senior vice president of TechNet, who represents senior executives at leading technology companies. I told Axios.
What’s next: The European Commission must make an exact final decision on how to implement DMA and specify which EU government agency oversees its work.
- European regulators are still reviewing the details of another major set of rules called the Digital Services Act. It manages how large technology platforms handle illegal online content.
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