Europe wants to limit the power of large technology groups such as Google or Facebook through the so-called “Digital Markets Act”. After a debate, the European Parliament will adopt its position on the ban on anti-competitive practices. A result is expected for this Wednesday. Specifically, Europe wants to ban certain business practices from large companies.
Andreas Schwab, rapporteur of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, underlines: “We have seen over the last eleven years that the European Commission has not been very successful in applying competition policy because it has always been behind – companies like Apple, Google or Facebook. Now we’ve changed the burden of proof, now the Commission can talk to them before they enter new markets, before they launch new business models, and that’s going to be very positive for consumers and users, because business models have to be fair and equitable. That was not the case in the past.”
In the event of non-compliance with the regulations, penalties can amount to up to 10% of the company’s turnover. And in the case of systematic violations of the regulations, extraordinary measures such as the obligation to sell part of the company’s assets could be imposed.
The European Consumers’ Association believes that there are positive elements in this: “You should be able to use your messaging service at your leisure to communicate with your colleagues, family and friends when many of them use WhatsApp Another big improvement will be that you will be able to choose in advance which search engine you want to use, without having Google search pushed on you all the time”.
The high-tech companies criticize the new rules: They slow down innovations. The European Union, on the other hand, is convinced that more rights for users mean more democracy in an increasingly connected world.
Leave a comment