{"id":2365,"date":"2022-03-25T17:20:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni-europa.org\/?post_type=news&p=2365"},"modified":"2022-03-25T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:28:08","slug":"digital-market-act-provisional-agreement-end-of-the-tech-giants-wild-west","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni-europa.org\/news\/digital-market-act-provisional-agreement-end-of-the-tech-giants-wild-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Market Act provisional agreement \u2013 End of the Tech Giants\u2019 Wild West"},"content":{"rendered":"

European legislators have agreed on sweeping new legislation to rein in the market power of Tech Giants, such as Amazon. Yesterday (24 March 2022), a provisional agreement between Commission, Council and European Parliament on the Digital Markets Act was reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major step. Governments will be able to truly challenge the manipulations of Big Tech. The free-for-all that tech giants have benefited from until now has had a devastating impact for working people,\u201d said Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake Amazon: as well as expanding its market share in commerce, it has also expanded its conflictual labour approach which undermines core aspects of the European Social Model. It has used its sway to distort the market to its advantage. This has resulted in taking market share from companies with established labour relations where workers have a strong say over the decisions that impact their lives. It has then imposed its approach of dodging negotiations wherever it can get away with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments are establishing the tools to hold these corporations accountable. Many of these big players like Amazon are getting big amounts in government money. As well as applying this regulation, the EU and governments should also use their buying power to make companies behave,\u201d said Oliver Roethig, echoing the motivation behind UNI Europa\u2019s extensive input to this legislative package<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The provisional agreement on the Digital Markets Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some large online platforms act as “gatekeepers” in digital markets. Gatekeepers are large online platforms that have a strong and entrenched economic position and thereby a significant impact on the internal market. They also have a strong \u201cintermediation position\u201d, meaning that it links a large user base to a large number of businesses.<\/p>\n

This classification as gatekeepers recognizes that, by determining people’s access to information, goods and services, these corporations have a huge influence in our societies. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to ensure that these platforms do not use this influence to warp things like public opinion or markets to their advantage. That is why the Digital Markets Act is such an important piece of legislation.<\/p>\n

“A fair marketplace is part of every democracy,<\/em>\u201d said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager during the press conference<\/a> (09:01).\u201cIt used to be the Wild West, this is no longer the case. We are taking back control. We as politicians have said to them, yes you are welcome here in our internal market but you must follow our rules,<\/em>\u201d added Commissioner Thierry Breton (9:04).<\/p>\n

The DMA would affect tech giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The scope is companies with a market value of \u20ac75 billion ($82.4 billion) or \u20ac7.5 billion ($8.26 billion) in annual revenue within the EU, and at least 45 million monthly end-users and 10,000 yearly business users of at least one core platform.<\/p>\n

The provision agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) includes among other things:<\/p>\n