The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of legislation to curb the power of tech giants earlier this week, approving both the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims for greater oversight by digital platforms regarding illegal content online.
Companies that fail to comply will be subject to fines of up to 10% of their annual global revenue for violations of the DMA and 6% for violations of the DSA.
It is important to highlight that the DSA prohibits marketing activities targeting children. or carried out through sensitive personal dataFurthermore, any deceptive tactic that could induce a person to provide their data will also be prohibited.
This decision will force giants like Google and Apple to open their services and platforms to competition, thus breaking their monopoly that has lasted for years.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, said: "What we want is simple: fair markets... in the digital world.", "Large gatekeeper platforms have prevented businesses and consumers from benefiting from competitive digital marketplaces."
The regulatory market in the EU is only growing.
This decision represents the the biggest regulatory move ever made by the European Union in support of its pro-free market stance in the technology sector. "The agreement ushers in a new era of technology regulation worldwide.""This is a true statement," said German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations for the European Parliament.
In practice, this decision would mean that Apple would be forced to open the App Store to allow other payment options to be available, since currently only Apple's own payment system is accepted.
And this issue involving payments on the App Store has been a problem for Apple for a long time.
For some time now, the giant company that owns the iPhone has been waging a legal battle with Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, over this issue.
Furthermore, the company should also allow its users the option to uninstall Safari and other pre-installed applications, which currently cannot be deleted.
Apple said it was "Concerned that some provisions of the DMA create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users."".
And Google said: “While we support many of the DMA’s ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we are concerned that some of these rules may reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans.”.
The case also drew criticism from the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), with Deputy Director-General Ursula Pachl stating in a press release:"We warned last week, along with other civil society groups, that if the Commission does not hire the necessary experts to monitor Big Tech practices in the market, the legislation could be undermined by ineffective enforcement.".
The project is now awaiting approval from the Council of European Ministers in September.
