13 Oct EU CHALLENGES THE BIG TECH COMPANIES WITH ITS LANDMARK ACT
EU wants the gatekeepers to let loose the gates with its Digital Services Act, which regulates gatekeeping concepts, e-Commerce and fundamental rights online.
What is the Digital Services Act?
The Digital Services Act is EU’s first initiative for Internet regulations since the e-Commerce Directive in 2000. In addition to the e-commerce regulations within EU, Digital Services Act, which is expected by the end of this year, “… should increase and clarify a common set of responsibilities…” for the online platforms provided in EU and enjoyed anywhere in the world:
– to keep users safe from illegal goods, content or services
– to protect their fundamental rights online
Transparency and greater regulations are also aimed with this act.
With this Act, the EU is preparing to force the Big Tech companies to share their customer data with smaller competitors. According to the regulation, companies such as Amazon and Google “shall not use data collected on the platform … for their own commercial activities … unless they make it accessible to business users active in the same commercial activities”.
The European Commission launched a public consultation on its landmark package in relation to the following concerns:
– Keeping users safe online, with a data request regarding illegal activities such as dangerous and counterfeit products, hate speech and misleading advertisements,
– Reviewing the liability regime in the e-Commerce Directive on whether adjustments are needed for platforms such as social media, search engines, online market places and cloud storage providers,
– Evaluation of “gatekeeper power” and “gatekeeper market” concepts and problems experienced by the other players in the digital domain,
– The health and safety concerns of platform workers.
UK’s Take on The Digital Services Act
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK published a detailed consultation of the Digital Services Act package of EU.
The CMA considers the proposals of the Commission for ex-ante regulation for Big Tech companies acting as gatekeepers as a right move and it agrees with the Commission that the current framework is not adequate and efficient to address the issues in such markets.
Yet, there are some challenges to overcome. To step up these new challenges, the CMA published its Digital Markets Strategy in July 2019 and established a Data, Technology and Analytics (DaTA) Unit aiming to identify new technologies and understand how consumers and markets are impacted by these emerging technologies.
The CMA concludes its consultation with an overall evaluation:
“… we believe it is desirable that there is a strong coherence between different regimes internationally, particularly in relation to large platforms acting as gatekeepers and therefore would be very keen to continue engagement as we develop our thinking in this area.”
The Monopoly that we don’t want to play
The issues regarding the digital markets and online domain are not only the concerns of the EU and UK; they are global.
The House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, investigating the practices of the Big Tech companies for the last 16 months, has shared their concerns and recommendations.
The 449-pages report of the Committee states that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have exercised and abused their “monopoly power” and that antitrust laws must be reformed.
You can read the full report here.
The Committee has compared the four companies with the “monopolies last seen in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons” and noted that the companies abused their dominant positions, setting and often dictating prices and rules for commerce, search, advertising, social networking and publishing.
No one denies the necessity for regulations and judicial adaptations in regard to Big Tech companies, digital markets and Internet domain. Yet, these developments require time and new perspectives.
We agree with the CMA in their consultation and wish for an international coherence as the incoherencies and disagreements regarding the basics and fundamental rules could cause infringements and injustice acts.
Last but definitely not least, we would like to remind the fact that monopolies do not welcome novelties by their nature and tend not to be inclusive. If 2020 taught humanity one lesson that is definitely the fact that we need to be more inclusive and comprehensive and open to novelties in every possible way.
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