The Blog of the European Association for Digital Transition
Following 15 months of negotiations, we’ve got white smoke. On Thursday, March 24, the technicians and experts at the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council reached an agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Below, we provide a summary of this new regulation by looking at five questions.
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Since the U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum, both in 2016, the risk to Western democracies from fake news has been part of the global political debate. But in the twenty-first century, five years of technology is a long time. And the dangers have grown, becoming more sophisticated. While platforms and the authorities barely manage to lessen the spread of fake news on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, new risks are starting to be tangible within the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In 2021, we should no longer trust a video with inflammatory statements from a political leader: it might have been created with AI. And these deep fakes are just one of the manifestations of the phenomenon we find ourselves in.
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On Monday, May 17, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is once again being celebrated. The commemoration is the result of a 2006 resolution from the UN General Assembly. Its purpose? To promote knowledge on the possibilities for development and economic and social prosperity from the Internet and other information technologies.
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The regulatory offensive being done by the European Union with the so-called ‘gatekeepers’ of the digital economy – the large Internet platforms – just might be a before and after in the unbalanced market position these enjoy. However, both the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act ignore a key element in regulating the use and exchange of personal data: an economic calculation of the consumer-digital relationship.
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Various events are being held this week to celebrate World Consumer Rights Day, a day in which civil society and regulators defend the rights of citizens-consumers. This year, the date takes on a special relevance. This is because it is being held in the midst of major discussions within the European institutions that are designing one of the most important regulatory frameworks for the coming years, that is, the ‘Digital Acts’ regulatory package: DSA, DMA, and DGA.
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The ‘Save your zone’ campaign has seen significant development institutionally. During November and December, the EADT sent hundreds of letters explaining its position to the mayors of the main cities in Spain, Italy, France and Germany, as well as to dozens of trade associations, employers and unions.
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On December 15, the European Commission presented its regulatory proposal on a single market for digital services (known as the Digital Services Act), a common set of rules on intermediaries’ obligations and accountability across the digital single market.
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The European Union has finalized a draft of its new Digital Services Act (DSA), which, according to all indications, will place restrictions on and control more closely the activity of large technology companies. There is even talk of forcing them to share their data with smaller companies and prohibiting them from applying any kind of preferential treatment for their products on their own platforms. All this is in the midst of a growing debate, also in the United States, about the excessive size and power of these companies and the possibility of forcing them to be split up to restore competition in the markets where they abuse their dominance.
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