The European Union has been working on a new bill that will impose sanctions on technology giants for a while. With the latest statements, it was stated that an agreement was reached on this bill, which is called the “Digital Market Law”. Thanks to this agreement, companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Google and Apple will be subject to strict rules.
The bill, which was negotiated in the European Parliament and reached a consensus, includes issues to prevent technology giants from “running around as they please” on digital platforms. With the law, fines up to 20 percent of their global turnover can be imposed on companies that prevent competition and make consumers suffer. Moreover, as recently discussed in the USA, purchasing limits will be applied in Europe as well. In other words, giant companies will be prevented from printing money and buying their competitors.
Articles in the Digital Market Law of the European Union
- With a market value of at least 75 billion euros, annual turnover of 7.5 billion euros Large platforms on the Internet, reaching more than 45 million monthly users or used by more than 10 thousand commercial enterprises, will be called “gatekeepers” and will be subject to the “Digital Market Law”.
- Gatekeepers will be examined with great care, especially within the scope of unfair competition practices. As a result of the investigations, some activities of companies that do not comply with the current European Union laws may be stopped.
- If gatekeepers are found to be acting unlawfully, they will initially be fined up to 10 percent of their global turnover. If the violation continues or the company does not make the necessary adjustment, the fine will be 20 percent of the global turnover.
- None of the gatekeepers will be able to put their own service ahead of their opponents. The user will be able to see all similar services together and make his own choice.
- Messaging applications of different gatekeepers will be redesigned to work together.
- Users will be able to uninstall the software and services pre-installed by the brand they receive service from, if they wish. The technology company will not be able to apply any restrictions at this point.
- Gatekeepers will not be able to purchase to eliminate their opponents.