The EU has over the past few years been working hard to regain its “digital sovereignty,” and regulating technology has been a priority in this process, starting with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, which put consumers back in control of their rights to personal data. The bloc has imposed sky-high fines on major digital platforms accused of anticompetitive practices.
Individual member states are also tackling the issue. For example, the Italian Data Protection Agency on Monday last week formally warned Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok that it suspects it of breaching EU rules designed to safeguard user privacy.
The agency also said it was concerned that inappropriate advertising could be directed at minors given the problems that TikTok has faced in accurately registering the age of its users.
Evidently, the EU and its member states are no longer willing to sit idly by and watch the monopoly of foreign Internet platforms.
Google and Facebook have repeatedly been at odds with the EU over their monopolistic behavior. In 2018, when Google’s market share of mobile searches was as high as 97 percent in Europe, the EU required that the platform provide more options to European users.
However, Google implemented methods to sidestep the regulation.
Seeking to protect holders of creative rights in the news and publishing industries, the EU in 2019 issued a directive that allowed online publishers to negotiate copyright fees with platforms.
However, social media giants have been reluctant to submit to these regulations and frequently challenged EU member states.
Last year, French antitrust authorities slapped Google with a fine of 500 million euros (US$509 million at the current exchange rate), despite US objections. In Italy, Google in March last year signed licensing agreements with a number of publishers requiring it to pay fees for third-party content. A new platform, Google News Showcase, is to be launched in Italy soon, implementing a global content licensing scheme in which Google pays publishers for their content.
The heyday of tech giants monopolizing the market and doing their business as they please is likely coming to an end in Europe. On March 24, the European Parliament reached an agreement with the European Council on further restrictions on technology giants, leading to the July 5 passage of the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, which seeks to censor illegal content on the Internet, as well as added regulations similar to those in Australia that require Internet companies to pay licensing fees.
The two acts function as a European Internet “constitution,” curbing and controlling the wanton behaviors of the Internet platform behemoths.
Digital platforms produce no original content, but reap the rewards by monopolizing digital advertising profits. This has triggered the actions of global media asking for compensation.
Taiwan should follow suit and learn from the countries pioneering new regulatory concepts.
Chang Meng-jen is head of Fu Jen Catholic University’s Department of Italian Language and Culture and the coordinator of the school’s diplomacy and international affairs program.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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