The digital markets act and digital services act have officially been approved in the EU and are being implemented.
EU lawmakers recently approved the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and Digital Services Act (DSA), which will help control unfair advantage by tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. Companies may now face fines of up to 10% of annual global turnover for DMA violations and 6% for DSA violations. Lawmakers and EU states had agreed on a political deal concerning both rule books earlier this year, however some details were still being ironed out.
The DMA and DSA will put strict rules on the way large tech companies operate, in order to prevent an abuse of power.
The DSA prohibits targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data for example religion, gender, race and political opinions. The DMA will require businesses to make their messaging services interoperable and to ensure that users have access to their data. Business users on these platforms will now be able to promote competing products and services and close deals with customers off the platforms. Large tech companies will now be prohibited from giving an unfair advantage to their own services over that of their rivals or preventing users from removing pre-installed software or apps. These two rules are expected to affect Google and Apple specifically. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online, explained in a recent vlog by Aphaia, will also be prohibited.
A task force has been established by the European Commission for the implementation of DMA and DSA.
The European Commission has set up a taskforce, with about 80 officials expected to collaborate on the implementation of DMA and DSA. In addition, regulators will establish a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency to attract data and algorithm scientists to assist with enforcement. Andreas Schwab, the lawmaker who was tasked with steering the issue through the European Parliament, has suggested the use of a larger taskforce to counter Big Tech’s monetary advantage and access to lawyers. Other organizations have also voiced concerns. European Consumer Organisation, BEUC’s Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl said in a statement “We raised the alarm last week with other civil society groups that if the Commission does not hire the experts it needs to monitor Big Tech’s practices in the market, the legislation could be hamstrung by ineffective enforcement.” EU industry chief Thierry Breton has addressed enforcement concerns, saying that various teams would focus on particular issues such as risk assessments, interoperability of messenger services and data access during the process of implementing these rules.
Does your company have all of the mandated safeguards in place to ensure the safety of the personal data you collect or process? Aphaia can help. Aphaia also provides both GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 consultancy services, including data protection impact assessments, and Data Protection Officer outsourcing. We can help your company get on track towards full compliance. Contact us today.
