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European regulators have agreed on a Digital Markets Act that would impose a variety of new requirements on Big Tech companies classified as “gatekeepers.” Final votes on the legislation are still pending.
“The text provisionally agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators targets large companies providing so-called ‘core platform services’ most prone to unfair business practices, such as social networks or search engines, with a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euro or an annual turnover of 7.5 billion,” a European Parliament announcement said yesterday. “To be designated as ‘gatekeepers,’ these companies must also provide certain services such as browsers, messengers, or social media, which have at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU and 10,000 annual business users.”
Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook owner Meta, and Microsoft would apparently have to comply with the new rules. “The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies. From now on, they must show that they also allow for fair competition on the Internet,” said Andreas Schwab, a member of the European Parliament from Germany and rapporteur for Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.
