E.U. agrees on Digital Markets Act, introducing stronger rules for the largest tech platforms
"E.U. Takes Aim at Big Tech’s Power With Landmark Digital Act", 24 March 2022
The European Union agreed ... to one of the world’s most far-reaching laws to address the power of the biggest tech companies…[T]he Digital Markets Act... is aimed at stopping the largest tech platforms from using their interlocking services and considerable resources to box in users and squash emerging rivals, creating room for new entrants and fostering more competition.
... [C]ompanies like Google will no longer be able to collect data from different services to offer targeted ads without users’ consent ... Violators of the law... could face penalties of up to 20 percent of their global revenue — which could reach into the tens of billions of dollars — for repeat offenses.
Tech industry groups criticized the new law as biased against American companies and predicted it would harm innovation in Europe. “This bill was written to target U.S. tech companies, and its impact will fall on American workers,” said Adam Kovacevich, chief executive of the Chamber of Progress.
The Digital Markets Act will apply to so-called gatekeeper platforms... The group includes Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube; Amazon; Apple; Microsoft; and Meta.