The European Union is on its way to introduce the Digital Markets and Digital Services Act in the region which will implement a number of changes to how digital media is accessed on the internet.
According to a draft released earlier this year, the Act aims to curb the power of digital “gatekeepers” such as Google and Facebook. There are also a handful of other acts involved which will not only focus on checking Big Tech’s power over the digital market but also check their power over content.
Additionally, this act also requires digital platforms to “establish powerful transparency and a clear accountability framework,” with one of its major goals being the mitigation of “manipulation” and “disinformation.”
Australia passed a similar law on Thursday called the New Media Bargaining Code. This law was also designed to curb the control of Big Tech over the digital marketplace. This law applies to all companies that call themselves “digital platforms” and requires them to strike deals with news publishers and pay them to host their content.
Both tech giants including Google and Facebook have been resisting the new law in the country. Google threatened to remove its services from the country, whereas Facebook started banning local news publishers in only a week. Under pressure from these moves, the government decided to make amendments to the law that removed much of its enforcement authority.
As for the EU, the region is yet to enforce these new rules and we are yet to see how it turns out for them.
