Tag: dsa

Amazon Challenges EU Online Content Rules, Other Big Tech Firms Expected to Follow Suit

Amazon has launched a legal challenge against its inclusion in a group of companies subject to tough European Union online content rules, in a move that technology experts have said may prompt other tech giants to follow suit.

Amazon’s challenge at the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe’s second highest, is the first by a Big Tech company and came two weeks after German online retailer Zalando sued the European Commission over the same issue.

Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year, 19 online platforms and search engines were labelled as very large online platforms (VLOP) as they have more than 45 million users. The VLOP designation requires companies to do more to tackle illegal online content.

“If the VLOP designation were to be applied to Amazon and not to other large retailers across the EU, Amazon would be unfairly singled out and forced to meet onerous administrative obligations that don’t benefit EU consumers,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

The U.S. company said it is not the largest retailer in any of the EU countries where it operates and that its bigger rivals in these countries have not been designated as such.

“Amazon doesn’t fit this description of a ‘Very Large Online Platform’ under the DSA and therefore should not be designated as such,” the spokesperson said.

The company asked the General Court to annul its designation. The EU executive did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act Passed as EU Moves to Rein in Big Tech; Enforcement Concerns Remain

EU lawmakers gave the thumbs up on Tuesday to landmark rules to rein in the power of tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, but enforcing them could be an issue due to regulators’ limited resources.

In addition to the rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), lawmakers also approved the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires online platforms to do more to police the internet for illegal content.

Companies face fines of up to 10 percent of annual global turnover for DMA violations and 6 percent for DSA breaches. Lawmakers and EU states had reached a political deal on both sets of rules earlier this year, leaving some details to be ironed out.

The two rule books for Big Tech built on EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s experiences with investigations into the companies. She has set up a DMA taskforce, with about 80 officials expected to join up, which critics say is inadequate.

Lawmaker Andreas Schwab, who steered the issue through the European Parliament, has called for a bigger task force to counter Big Tech’s deep pockets.

European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) echoed the same worries.

“We raised the alarm last week with other civil society groups that if the Commission does not hire the experts it needs to monitor Big Tech’s practices in the market, the legislation could be hamstrung by ineffective enforcement,” BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl said in a statement.

The DMA is set to force changes in companies’ businesses, requiring them to make their messaging services interoperable and provide business users access to their data.

Business users would be able to promote competing products and services on a platform and reach deals with customers off the platforms.

Companies will not be allowed to favour their own services over rivals’ or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps, two rules that will hit Google and Apple hard.

The DSA bans targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinions. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online, will also be prohibited.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Google, Meta Face New EU Online Rules to Curb Illegal Content

Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other large online platforms will have to do more to tackle illegal content or risk hefty fines under new Internet rules agreed between European Union countries and EU lawmakers on Saturday.

The agreement came after more than 16 hours of negotiations. The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the second prong of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s strategy to rein in Alphabet unit Google, Meta, and other US tech giants.

Last month, she won backing from the 27-country bloc and lawmakers for landmark rules called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe.

“We have a deal on the DSA: The Digital Services Act will make sure that what is illegal offline is also seen and dealt with as illegal online – not as a slogan, as reality,” Vestager said in a tweet.

EU lawmaker Dita Charanzova, who had called for such rules eight years ago, welcomed the agreement.

“Google, Meta, and other large online platforms will have to act to better protect their users. Europe has made clear that they cannot act as independent digital islands,” she said in a statement.

In a statement, Google said: “As the law is finalised and implemented, the details will matter. We look forward to working with policymakers to get the remaining technical details right to ensure the law works for everyone.”

Under the DSA, the companies face fines up to 6 percent of their global turnover for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.

The new rules ban targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinions. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online, will also be prohibited.

Very large online platforms and online search engines will be required to take specific measures during a crisis. The move was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related disinformation.

The companies could be forced to hand over data related to their algorithms to regulators and researchers.

The companies also face a yearly fee up to 0.05 percent of worldwide annual revenue to cover the costs of monitoring their compliance.

EU lawmaker Martin Schirdewan criticised the exemption granted to medium-sized companies.

“Under pressure from the conservatives, an exception rule for medium-sized companies was integrated, this is a mistake. Due to the large number of companies that fall under this definition in the digital sector, the exception is like a loophole,” he said.

The DSA will be enforced in 2024.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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