Europe is preparing to change internet rules. Internet
Europe is preparing to change internet rules. Internet
EU is hoping that DMA will make it easier for Big Tech platforms to break the walls of their gardens.
"We expect the consequences to be significant," says Gerard de Graaf, a veteran EU official who was instrumental in passing the DMA at the beginning of the year. In the last month, he was appointed director of a brand new EU headquarters situated in San Francisco, established in part to explain the consequences of the law for Big Tech companies. De Graaf says they will be forced to cut down their gardens that are enclosed.
"If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not just from the App Store but from other app stores or from the Internet," de Graaf says in a conference room accented by emerald green in the Irish consulate in San Francisco, where the office of the EU was initially. The DMA demands that dominant platforms allow smaller competitors to join and also to force Meta's WhatsApp to be able to receive messages from rival apps such as Signal or Telegram or stop Amazon, Apple, and Google from referencing their own applications and services.While the DMA is set to take effect this week, tech companies aren't required to be compliant immediately. The EU first needs to determine which firms are large and well-established enough to qualify as "gatekeepers" subject to the most stringent rules. De Graaf expects that about 12 companies will be part of that group, which will be revealed during the first quarter of spring. Gatekeepers then have six months to bring their businesses into compliance.
De Graaf has predicted an influx of lawsuits in opposition to the new EU guidelines regarding Big Tech but says he is currently in California to explain that Silicon Valley giants that the rules have been changed. The EU has in the past issued massive penalties on Google, Apple, and other companies through an antitrust investigation and a system that placed an obligation on the bureaucrats to prove their case the official states. In the context of DMA the burden lies on the company to comply with the rules. "The key message is that negotiations are over, we're in a compliance situation," de Graaf says. "You may not like it, but that's the way it is."
As with the EU's protection of privacy, GDPR, the DMA is anticipated to bring about changes to how technology platforms are used to serve users outside of the Europe's 400 million Internet users, since certain aspects of compliance can be easily implemented worldwide.
Technology companies are also expected to confront the second major EU law called the Digital Services Act which mandates an assessment of the risks associated with certain algorithms and disclosures on automated decision-making. It could also force social networks such as TikTok to reveal their data to scrutiny from outside. The law will be implemented in phases with the most popular online platforms expected to be compliant by the mid-year of 2024. It is believed that the EU has also been contemplating passing rules regarding artificial intelligence that could prohibit certain uses of this technology.
De Graaf argues that tougher regulations for tech giants are necessary not only to safeguard businesses and individuals against unfair business practices but also also to enable society to enjoy the full benefit of technology. He has been vocal about the non-binding AI Bill of Rights that was recently announced from the White House, saying that the absence of a firm regulations could undermine public faith in technology. "If our citizens lose trust in AI because they believe it discriminates against them and leads to outcomes that are harmful to their lives," the author states, "they are going to shun AI, and it will never be successful."
The new EU office was established following recent initiatives from the bloc and the US to cooperate more in the area of tech policy. De Graaf says both sides are looking for ways to tackle the issue of chip shortages as well as ways in which to leverage the power of authoritarian governments as well as the Internet.
He's also making plans to travel to Sacramento to meet with California state legislators who are, he believes, the pioneers in standing up against Big Tech. They approved an act in the month of July that requires strict privacy settings on default for children, as well as controls regarding how companies utilize information they collect on children. It is worth noting that the US Congress is currently enacting minimal legislation that affects the tech industry in the past few years apart of an act worth $58 billion CHIPS and Science Act in support of the semiconductor industry that was passed in the month of July.
Marlena Wisniak who heads work on technology at the civil liberties organization The European Center for Not for Profit Law she sees the EU's recent presence in the backyard of the tech industry as proof that they are determined to shape the global tech policy. She believes de Graaf should use some of the power available to those who depend on Big Tech platforms outside the US and EU which are not often included in diplomacy on tech.
Wisniak is also hopeful that the EU's digital ambassadors avoid traps that have derail the plans of a few former visitors into Silicon Valley, a place that has more entrepreneurs, executives, and financiers than analysts. "I hope that EU policymakers don't get dazzled by the tech hype," she states. "The tech bro narrative is real."
This story first was published at wired.com.
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