Networks like Facebook and Twitter will be more controlled in the EU – 25/04/2023 – Market

The European Union published this Tuesday (25) a list of 19 digital platforms, including giants such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, which will be subject to stricter controls from the end of August this year.

Under the new rules, companies will have to submit to annual audits and follow procedures to combat misinformation and hateful rhetoric.

Online platforms and search engines that have more than 45 million monthly active users in the EU entered the list. The framing criterion is based on European legislation on digital services, which determines that sites with this amount of hits are considered “systemic” and require special observation.

Major services from Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft will also have tighter scrutiny.

In the case of Google, the rule affects Google Search, Google Maps, Google Shopping and Google Play, as well as Youtube.

Also classified as giant companies were the professional network LinkedIn, the App Store for Apple’s iOS operating system, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the messaging service Snapchat and the site Pinterest.

Most of the companies listed are based in the United States, but the rule still includes video platform TikTok and online retail service AliExpress, both from China, as well as German online clothing retailer Zalando. The booking site for hotels and airline tickets Booking was also framed, as well as the search engine Bing.

The EU adopted two very strict laws, one on digital services (DSA) and the other on digital markets (DMA), in an effort to impose order on the operations of digital giants in the European space.

The legislation says that companies that do not comply with the rules will have to pay fines that reach up to 6% of their worldwide revenues, and may even face a temporary ban from operating in Europe.

Companies will have to expose their operating algorithms to experts from the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU), in addition to making their data available to selected researchers who have the support of the European Union

“This new monitoring system sets up a wide net to detect failures on the part of platforms to comply with the rules”, said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner responsible for the internal market.

Platforms under increased EU control

Alibaba AliExpress
Amazon Store
apple appstore
bing
Booking.com
Facebook
Google Play
Google Maps
Google Search
Google Shopping
Instagram
LinkedIn
pinterest
snapchat
TikTok
twitter
wikipedia
YouTube
Zalando

Translated by Paulo Migliacci