Europe pushes ahead with moves to restrict major tech companies

The European Union's showdown with the United States-dominated online technology industry was set to come a step closer on Tuesday with the 27-member bloc's unveiling of draft new rules aimed at bringing the likes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to heel.

But the proposed rules that would replace legislation drafted in 2004 remain a long way from reality and will first be debated and voted upon in the European Parliament in a process that could take two years.

Reuters news agency said the rules represent the bloc's most serious attempt so far "to rein in the power of the US tech giants", which have huge reservoirs of data and run platforms used by millions of Europeans.

The proposed rules, which are expected to allow Big Tech companies to be fined as much as 10 percent of their annual turnover, follow recent antitrust cases launched by the EU against the enterprises.

The rules contained within the twin legislation of the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which were compiled by Margrethe Vestager, the EU's executive vice-president in charge of digital and competition policy, and Thierry Breton, the bloc's commissioner for the internal market, are expected to make sure companies cannot become too large, Reuters explained.

Breton told the Financial Times in an earlier interview: "There is a feeling from end-users of these platforms that (the Big Tech companies) are too big to care."

Vestager told the paper: "It is painful that, in digital markets, the harm that can be done in that marketplace can happen very fast but the recovery of that marketplace can be very, very difficult."

Political interests

Together, they said in an opinion piece in The Irish Times on Sunday: "The business and political interests of a handful of companies should not dictate our future."

The rules are expected to call for companies to be classified according to their number of users, size of revenue, and range of markets. Very large companies will be called "gatekeepers" and required to do more to tackle illegal content and guard against misuse.

They must also avoid influence over election results, and over public health debates. They must share data with researchers and the authorities to ensure content is legal.

Very large online platforms with more than 45 million users must also share details of political advertising and the ways in which they rank their content. All firms must keep the EU informed about proposed mergers and acquisitions.

Agence France-Presse noted companies could even be banned from the EU market for "serious and repeated breaches", or engaging in anti-competitive behavior.

EU nations have a wide range of attitudes toward Big Tech companies and it is far from clear what the rules will end up looking like after the lengthy debate process is over.