Digital Markets Act: the EU is changing the internet

Digital Markets Act : The European Union agreed on Thursday to one of the world's most far-reaching laws to tackle the power of big tech companies, reshaping app stores, online advertising, e-commerce, messaging services and many other everyday digital tools.

The law, called the Digital Markets Act, is the most sweeping digital data protection policy in the world. The legislation aims to stop large technology platforms from using their services to gain new users and how to deal with emerging competitors, creating space for new entrants that will further enhance competition.

See more articles from iGuRu.gr when you search for news on Google.

iGuRu.gr preferred source

The Digital Markets Act will apply to so-called gatekeeper platforms , which are defined by factors such as their market value of more than 75 billion euros, or about $83 billion. The group includes Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta.

The details of the law are the wish list for the competitors of the largest companies.

Some examples:

Apple and Google, which make the operating systems that run on almost every smartphone, should relax their requirements.

Apple would have to allow alternatives to the App Store for downloading apps, a change the company has warned could compromise security. The law would also allow companies like Spotify and Epic Games to use payment methods other than those Apple mandates in the App Store, which charges a 30% commission.

Amazon will not be able to use data collected from outside vendors in its services to offer competing products, a practice of the company which is currently the subject of a separate antitrust investigation by the EU. .

The law will lead to significant changes for messaging applications. WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, should offer ways for users of competing services such as Signal or Telegram to send and receive messages to someone using WhatsApp.
Rival services should also make their products interoperable with WhatsApp.

For the largest online advertising vendors (Meta and Google), there will be new limits to targeted ads without user consent. Such ads (based on data collected by individuals as they move between YouTube and other Google services or between Instagram and Facebook) are extremely lucrative for both companies.

With these actions, Europe is consolidating its leadership position as the most dynamic regulator of technology companies.

European standards are often adopted around the world and the latest legislation further raises the bar, bringing the big technology companies into a new era of supervision.

"By treating large online platforms that behave as 'too big to care about,' Europe has stepped in," said Thierry Breton, one of the European Commission's top digital technology officials.

"We are putting an end to the so-called Wild West that dominates the field of information. A new framework that can be used to refer to democracies around the world. "

Last Thursday, representatives of the European Parliament and the European Council recorded the final details of the law in Brussels, after about 16 months of talks, and laid the groundwork for a final vote in Parliament between representatives from the 27 countries of the union.

This approval is considered formal.

giorgos

George is still wondering what he is doing here….