One year in, EU turning up heat in big tech fight

If 2024 already looks like an annus horribilis for big tech in the EU, the months ahead could prove a winter of discontent as the bloc wields a fortified new legal armoury to bring online titans to heel.

Since August 2023, the world’s biggest digital platforms have faced the toughest ever tech regulations in the European Union — which shows no sign of slowing down in enforcing them.

Brussels scored its first major victory after forcing TikTok to permanently remove an “addictive” feature from a spinoff app in Europe in August, a year after content moderation rules under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) started to apply.

That followed a seven-day period earlier in the summer in which Brussels issued back-to-back decisions targeting Apple, Meta and Microsoft.
And more is to come before 2024 is over, say officials.

The EU’s moves are all thanks to two laws, the DSA — which forces companies to police online content — and its sister competition law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — which gives big tech a list of what they can and can’t do in business.

Since the DMA curbs kicked in in March, the EU has notably pressured Apple to back down in a spat with Fortnite maker Epic over a gaming app store.

“The European Commission is doing the job: it is implementing the DMA with limited resources and within a short timeframe compared to lengthy competition cases,” said EU lawmaker Stephanie Yon-Courtin, who focuses on digital issues.

Jan Penfrat, senior policy advisor at online rights group EDRi, says changes are already visible: the DSA giving users the “right to complain” when content is removed or accounts are suspended, or the DMA allowing them to select browsers and search engines via choice screens.

“This is just the beginning,” Penfrat said.

He notes for instance that EDRi and other groups in July compiled a list of areas where Apple fails to follow the DMA. “We expect the commission to go after those as well in time,” Penfrat told AFP.