This Tuesday, the European Commission published the names of the six companies that will have to comply with the new operating rules on the internet. Among them are Bytedance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok and five American companies such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft as well as Meta (parent company of Facebook) and Alphabet (parent company of Google).
3 mins
These companies are the largest on the internet and as of this Wednesday, they have six months to comply with the new European rules of the “Digital Market Acts”. With this project, Europe has chosen to target internet giants, those it calls gatekeepers, i.e. those who control most access to the internet, reports our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet.
In total, Bytedance, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet have 22 world famous services like TikTokSafari, YouTube, WhatsApp or Google Maps. The objective of this new system is therefore to act before abusive behavior has already destroyed competition and generated a quasi-monopoly, like that of Google in search engines.
More competition
With the new rules, users of these services will no longer be prisoners of the platforms, promises theEuropean Union. For example, Google is regularly accused of favoring its own services in its search engine results. Thus, when an Internet user searches for a product on the Internet via Google Chrome, the search will no longer lead first to the platform’s store.
Another point, user data can no longer be kept for commercial purposes. European Internet users should therefore no longer see advertisements for recently searched products for weeks after doing the search.
Then, users will be able to choose services that were previously inaccessible on their devices. It will now be possible to use the Apple Store on an Android phone.
” We have already started talking to companies who have understood that the rules of the game have changed said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market.
We can no longer say anything on the networks.
The Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton
Read alsoInternet giants now subject to new rules in the European Union
Disputes in court
The new European rules bring regulation to the European market in line with foreseen sanctions. Companies that do not comply with this new protocol will risk dissuasive fines which may reach 20% of their worldwide turnover in the event of repeat offences. Previously, it took long legal proceedings when the platforms had questionable practices, now it is the platforms that will have to go to court when they challenge the European rules.
Challenges and legal action are to be expected given the importance of the interests at stake. TikTok immediately contested its inclusion in the list, saying to itself “ fundamentally disagree with the European Commission. Amazon and German online store Zalando have already gone to EU courts to challenge their designation as one of the 19 “ very large “platforms which must respect since the end of August reinforced rules of transparency and the fight against illegal content, within the framework of another regulation, that on digital services (“Digital Services Act”, DSA).
Read alsoGDPR, DSA: facing the internet giants, a European regulation gradually erected as a model