Six large technology companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, face new pressure from the European Union. This would involve countering their digital domination with far-reaching rules aimed at giving users more choice and making competition fairer. A number of prohibitions and requirements apply to access controllers in the EU. Companies now have six months to implement the regulations.
A decree which must limit the power of digital giants
The EU’s Digital Markets Act aims to limit the market power of internet giants, ensure fairer competition and give consumers more freedom of choice when it comes to online offerings. Companies fall under this decree if they have an annual turnover of at least 7.5 billion euros or an average market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros. They must also operate a so-called core platform service with at least 45 million active users in the EU and 10,000 monthly active commercial users.
The stricter rules of the sister law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), have become legally binding on large platforms.
This stipulates, for example, that companies must delete child pornography or terrorist propaganda more quickly than before. In turn, it becomes easier for users to report such content. Marketplaces like Amazon are now obliged to remove counterfeit products or dangerous toys as much as possible and to warn buyers.
So we can only better control these digital powers?
It is a shame to see that these large companies have no European origin. Why not give engineers the means to create at least one digital giant in Europe?
