EU is drafting a list of big tech companies that will face tougher regulation

[nanoguy]

The big picture: The European Commission has made it very clear that it wants to lay down new rules for tech companies on data governance, artificial intelligence, liability for data breaches, and a level playing field for competing services. Echoing the concerns of regulators across the ocean, Brussels plans to craft stricter regulation that targets companies that may have become "too big to care" about antitrust issues. Failing that, they may be required to spin off parts of their business.

According to a report from the Financial Times, European regulators are compiling a "hit list" of up to 20 tech companies that will face tougher regulation intended to dilute some of their market power.

While it would be difficult to guess all the companies on the list, it's safe to assume that in will include American tech giants like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google. Criteria for making the list include market share, number of users, and whether rivals depend on a certain company's tightly-locked platform to provide alternatives to its services.

The European Commission is looking to force these companies to be a lot more transparent about how and why they gather user data, as well as share that data with rivals and implement an easy way for users to migrate their data to a different service.

This would remove the need for lengthy antitrust investigations where the Commission needs to provide ample proof that a certain company has broken any laws through its business practices. And, as European regulators learned from past antitrust action involving companies like Qualcomm, large fines do little to their bottom line while smaller competitors like Icera are driven out of the market, as they can't survive as long as the giants can.

The efforts come as the European Union has been crafting a new digital market policy directed at tech giants while it plays catch up in silicon, AI and 5G developments. Regulators in the US are also setting the stage for similar legislative changes that could result in breaking up large tech companies or at the very least revamping their organizational structure.

In related news, the European Commission is preparing a draft of proposals on new rules for social platforms operating in the EU, which would hold them liable for user-generated content.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/87076-eu-drafting-list-big-tech-companies-face-tougher.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Facebook and most other "social media" companies are data mining operations that somehow convinced people to shove their personal data and info down the company's throats until they bulge at the seams.

Orwell would be disgusted by what's going on.

But then you get into political arguments, livestreaming of murders, livestreaming of suicides, gaslighting and governments being undermined by flash mobs and you understand immediately why countries like China, Iran, Philippines and others simply "flip the switch" and cut giants like google and Facebook off entirely while pushing their own culturally sensitive options.

I personally don't feel that the government should have any hand in regulating Social Media companies because it's a "freedom of contract" issue between the company and the individual. The question is: why are individuals so adamant about posting the road map to their own prosecution?

 

[fps4ever]

I really don't have anything good to say about Facebook, Twitter, etc. that won't get me bann'd sooo....

 

[Uncle Al]

Ohhhhh ..... I'd love to see the EU level a ruling that required the big tech companies to pay $10 for ever 100 kilobytes that they have gathered ..... that would certainly eliminate the need for that $10,000 per year free income from the government in the US ...... of course, that's assuming the American Govt. would be smart enough to do the same ...... LOL

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Facebook and most other "social media" companies are data mining operations that somehow convinced people to shove their personal data and info down the company's throats until they bulge at the seams.

Orwell would be disgusted by what's going on.

But then you get into political arguments, livestreaming of murders, livestreaming of suicides, gaslighting and governments being undermined by flash mobs and you understand immediately why countries like China, Iran, Philippines and others simply "flip the switch" and cut giants like google and Facebook off entirely while pushing their own culturally sensitive options.

I personally don't feel that the government should have any hand in regulating Social Media companies because it's a "freedom of contract" issue between the company and the individual. The question is: why are individuals so adamant about posting the road map to their own prosecution?

I'm sorry but it manifestly obvious that all companies need to have regulations in place to govern their behaviour. Self-regulation has been shown to be an abject failure time and time again. Give a company an inch and they will take a hundred miles. These data mining companies as you correctly labelled have been at the forefront of how companies should not behave and now they should suffer the consequences. Whether or not people are stupid enough to hand over their data their should be much greater protections for our privacy and the sort of content these companies can post. They have milked the system for too long and since they won't act as responsible corporate citizens then reap what you sow.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'm sorry but it manifestly obvious that all companies need to have regulations in place to govern their behaviour. Self-regulation has been shown to be an abject failure time and time again. Give a company an inch and they will take a hundred miles. These data mining companies as you correctly labelled have been at the forefront of how companies should not behave and now they should suffer the consequences. Whether or not people are stupid enough to hand over their data their should be much greater protections for our privacy and the sort of content these companies can post. They have milked the system for too long and since they won't act as responsible corporate citizens then reap what you sow.

There are some people who believe that government needs to regulate and there are others who believe that the free market itself has the checks and balances to regulate the company.

I am the latter.

I don’t trust this government of my own to regulate even itself so I damn sure don’t trust them to regulate what I type and say on social media. The government has no right to regulate my freedom of speech but the company that I choose to use for social media does.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Yes people sign up willingly to FB - Yes FB mines known children accounts, has broken it's own privacy rules , has consistently lied - made privacy hard for users etc ( I have never had an a/c )
yes folks are gullible for trusting FB - when we know they lie and cheat the system.
So yes they should be regulated and fined heavily - these companies are moderating their behavior not because of America and because they will be punished hard in countries enforcing data protection rules.
as stated self-reg. is a joke in most industries - Directors should face jail time when they decide it's cheaper to pollute water sources than dispose of correctly as the fines are wet bus tickets or cut corners on Workers Safety . Illegal fishing confiscate the ship - US does it for drug traffickers - do it for Corps .

Oh illegal immigrants taking our jobs - So easy to fix $20000 fine for each illegal worker

Boeing wasted tax payer money, Llockhead the same - Comcast , Verizon, AT&T took subsidies for rural broadband and didn't supply - oh dear give them more money and try harder .
Martha Stewards imprisonment made me laugh and laugh as the big boys ripped everyone with impunity . Goldman Sachs a slap of a 1 Billion dollar fine for fraud and embezzlement making heaps more . Unfortunately no swamps have been drained - doesn't matter Elephants or Donkeys

 

[EClyde]

Then fines. They have to pay their fair share for their protection somehow without upsetting the masses free stuff. This is the only way cause they are mostly cowards

 

[0dium]

"And, as European regulators learned from past antitrust action involving companies like Qualcomm, large fines do little to their bottom line while smaller competitors like Icera are driven out of the market, as they can't survive as long as the giants can."

So fines must be larger for large companies. Fine them based on their value. Simple as that.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Ohhhhh ..... I'd love to see the EU level a ruling that required the big tech companies to pay $10 for ever 100 kilobytes that they have gathered ..... that would certainly eliminate the need for that $10,000 per year free income from the government in the US ...... of course, that's assuming the American Govt. would be smart enough to do the same ...... LOL

Sounds like a good way to finally get everyone to agree that 1 kilobyte equal 1024 bytes.

 

[toooooot]

Can they all be banned from suppressing free speech, and picking specific opinions over other to allow on their platforms? Can they all be punished for catering China's heinous regime for the profits they get from this country? If so, best wishes.

 

[Avro Arrow]

We should be thanking our lucky stars that the EU exists because despite all the lip-service, we know that there's no way the US government would do anything of substance about it. That's the reason these corporations got this big to begin with.