EU officials finalize The Digital Markets Act rules for big tech regulation
The new rules will hopefully crack down on anti-competitive practices among major tech companies.
Phrases like “anti-competitive” and “monopolization” are thrown around frequently these days in regard to the behaviors exhibited by the major players in the technology space. In one way or another, it feels like the big names are doing their best to stomp out the competition and absorb as much of the market as possible. Now, EU officials are introducing The Digital Markets Act, which will impact companies like Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon.
EU officials agreed to a new set of rules under The Digital Markets Act earlier today, as reported by Politico. The official listing can be found over on the European Parliament website. Some of the rules found in the act include allowing users to install apps from third-party platforms, as well as restrictions on bundling together services and pulling user data from a variety of sources.
European Parliament member Andreas Schwab spoke to the new act, saying "The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies. From now on, Big Tech companies must show that they also allow for fair competition on the internet." He then goes on to talk about the need to create more competition and options for consumers. "The new rules will help enforce that basic principle. The time of long antitrust cases is over during which the authorities were lagging behind the big tech companies. Europe is thus ensuring more competition, more innovation and more choice for users."
With these new rules comes a set of punishments to be dealt should they be violated. Consequences for violating companies include punishments worth 10 percent of their annual revenue on a first violation and 20 percent on their second.
Anti-competitiveness has become a growing concern not just within the United States, but in the global market. The latest move from the European Parliament is a major step in combating those practices. It will be interesting to see if additional government bodies look to introduce such rules.
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replyDonovan Erskine posted a new article, EU officials finalize The Digital Markets Act rules for big tech regulation
