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This Tuesday, Brussels presented two new laws that limit the power of networks and could drastically change the digital world. Corporations strike back with a lot of money.
Vice President Margrethe Vestager and EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Photo: Stephanie Lecocq (Reuters)
After all, they already know each other in Washington. President Donald Trump once chided her for being the “tax lady” whom America really hates. As a powerful guardian of competition, Margrethe Vestager has a preference for American companies with buses and Back tax claims covered. The Dane is now also responsible for the digital economy and will present perhaps the most important proposal for the coming years in Brussels on Tuesday, namely the new rules with which the EU wants to bring order to the world of social media.
Therefore, it is quite possible that Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, will soon meet the vice president on the side of the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen. On this occasion, the EU is targeting the business model of US corporations such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. She has two instruments in her quiver for this, the so-called Digital Service Law and the Digital Markets Law. Ursula von der Leyen described the two laws as “beacon projects” of her tenure. The first template is a kind of basic law for platforms. These are guidelines on how social media should act against illegal content in the future.
Businesses face high fines
Although platforms should also not be held responsible for content in the future, they should expect steep fines of up to six percent of their annual turnover if they do not eliminate “hate speech”, glorification of terrorism, child pornography or product advertising falsified within the short established periods. . There must also be transparency and control with algorithms, identified as a danger to democracy because they manage polarization and strengthen political margins in the debate. Mania for data collection, digital collection, and targeted advertising should also be regulated.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, at a hearing in the US Senate.
Keystone
The second law points more to the market power of platforms. French Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who will appear alongside Vestager, can even imagine crushing players like Google or Facebook. He wants to give smaller operators a chance again. The business model of some corporations shouldn’t dictate the future of Europe, which is why Vestager and Breton declared war in a joint guest article. One keyword is “interoperability”. Users of services like Messenger should also be able to exchange messages with Signal’s messaging clients or other providers. Facebook users, for example, should also be able to take their data with them if they want to switch to a smaller platform.
EU regulations relevant to Switzerland
Size also comes with responsibility, say Vestager and Breton. There will be obligations and prohibitions to avoid unfair behavior by “digital gatekeepers.” For a long time, the EU tried to regulate the industry itself. The hugging course should be over. Similar to recent data protection regulation, the EU could also set global standards here. The data protection regulation has been in force since 2018, and even Switzerland is moving towards reforming its own Data Protection Act on the European model. With the new rules for social media, the pressure to adapt is likely to be even greater because Facebook and company will follow the stricter rules when in doubt.
The EU Commission or a new supervisory authority should be able to monitor platforms in the future, withdraw licenses and impose fines in case of violations. Expectations are already high in the EU Parliament: “The window for major change is open,” says Alexandra Geese, a member of the German Greens. Even Americans are ready because it has become clear how platforms threaten democracy and competition. Users should be able to disable targeted advertising or algorithms that present them with certain content, says Moritz Körner. The EU MEP from the German FDP believes that it is important that, following individual national efforts in individual member states, there should now be uniform rules in the internal market.
“A lot of eyes are on Europe to see if the EU can get it right.”
Industry self-regulation hasn’t worked, says Eliska Pirkova of Access now, a non-profit campaigning for people’s digital rights: “A lot of eyes are on Europe to see if the EU can get it right.” Lobbyists for information technology companies have also taken their place. The French newspaper “Le Point” published an internal strategy document for Google, describing how the company plans to make a lot of money against the Brussels plans. The battle for the rules of the game for platforms and goalkeepers has only just begun.
