For five years, the slogan of the European Commission has been relentlessly hammered out: “ what is illegal in reality is also illegal on the internet “. This political objective is bearing fruit and the European Commission is now tackling all the giants of the internet and new technologies head-on. The European Union has adopted two pieces of legislation, the Digital Services Regulation and the Digital Markets Regulation.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Bénazet
When taking office five years ago, the European Commission placed new technologies at the top of its priorities. On the one hand to push for innovation and on the other hand to bring order to it. Europeans are the first to recognize having missed the shift because the biggest names in digital are essentially American and Chinese. On the other hand, if these tools are not produced in Europe, that is where they are most used, says the Commission to justify its regulatory offensive.
Since the end of 2023, the machine has therefore been launched and the European Commission is accumulating confrontations. First there is the content: disinformation, hate speech or child pornography. On this chapter, the Commission has already taken action TikTokto Facebook and Instagram and we have already seen TikTok comply to avoid going to court.
Then there are all the questionable business practices, targeting of children, counterfeiting or false advertising. Here again, the Commission is opening all-out investigations into Apple, into Alphabet for Googleon Meta for Facebook and Instagram.
Sanctions can go up to 10% or even 20% of global turnover and above all a possible ban on operating in Europe. And this is the leitmotif of the Commission: “ if they want to operate with us, they will have to comply with our rules “. Because Europe is 450 million citizens, the largest single market with considerable purchasing power, an essential market which now serves to impose EU rules.