Following the news of the EU Parliament’s adoption of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and a Digital Markets Act (DMA);

Emma Mohr-McClune, Technology Service Director at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, comments:

“This is one of the most significant pieces of digital regulation in history – and the larger the company, the harder the impact. The potential fines for failing to follow the EU’s new digital rulebook are eye-watering. For a company like Meta, with an annual revenue of US$117.9 billion in 2021, we’re talking billions as it owns some of the largest social media platforms in the world such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

“Some of the new regulatory conditions require Big Tech companies to completely rethink the algorithm-driven business models which made them so successful in the first place. It’s difficult to exaggerate the work ahead for messaging brands such as WhatsApp and Telegram, or content moderation costs for social media and other user-generated content sites such as TikTok or Twitter.

“The aim of the DSA and DMA is to halt the spread of counterfeit goods, hate speech, cyber threats, disinformation and unfair digital services competition within member states. One of the driving maxims behind the new digital rulebook’s conception is that ‘what is illegal offline, should also be illegal online’.

“That all sounds good in principle, but in practice, the regulations mean EU member users will be given far more control over their favourite apps. From as early as January of next year, EU citizen users of these platforms should be able to share videos, send voice messages or send other files from one messaging app platform to another.

“EU consumers will also be able to withhold their consent to receive targeted online advertising or recommendations, using ‘profiling’ techniques based on the individual user’s historical online behaviour. They’ll even be able to raise flags if they disagree with a content moderation decision – and Big Tech will be required to act, and fast.”