https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cgl22z18jvro
From now on, all digital European reality will have to comply with these rules - from online trading to posts on social networks. The goal is to limit the freedom of American and Chinese high-tech giants to operate on the Internet according to the rules of the Wild West, and to give Europeans democratic levers to limit the power of titans like Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon.
The whole world is watching the European attempt to write a constitution for the Internet. Developed democracies are ready to adopt the European experience if it turns out to be successful and survives the struggle with Internet companies that are ready to sue for the right to continue playing by their own rules.
And dictators of all stripes also benefit - now they can attribute their own censorship and bans to the “European experience.”
Two laws from the new set of rules - on digital services and on digital markets - have already reached the finish line. Last week, the European Commission named companies that will have to comply with new requirements under the threat of a huge fine or a ban on providing services to users in the EU. The rest were given about six more months to prepare.
The idea of regulating the Internet was described by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen:
“Anything that is illegal offline should be illegal online,” she said. “We will ensure that the Internet is a safe space in which freedom of speech for citizens and fair competition for businesses are guaranteed.”
Until now, Internet platforms themselves determined the rules of the game for their services like Instagram, Google Play or Amazon Marketplace. They themselves monitored their compliance, decided for themselves who violated and who did not, and themselves acted as arbiters of their own decisions if blocked users did not agree with them.
New laws will give democratically elected authorities of EU countries the right to participate in these processes, to determine what can and cannot be done. Moreover, they will define mechanisms for punishment and dispute resolution with the participation of third parties.
Now platforms will be forced to assess risks and take action - not of their own free will, but according to the law.
“Companies that did not exist at all 20 years ago have grown into giants. They have billions of users all over the world. They have become the gatekeepers of the Internet and have gained enormous power over our destinies,” Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager described the main goal of the new laws. She has been leading the EU's antitrust vendetta against the titans of America's Silicon Valley for years.
“They have control over our security - they decide whether a dangerous product or harmful content appears on Internet platforms, they decide how quickly to remove it,” she said. “They even have the power to set the direction of political debate and defend—or undermine—democracy in our countries.”
With the adoption of the laws, almost half a billion citizens of the 27 EU countries will have more control and opportunities to influence their relationships with Internet companies.
For example, they are guaranteed the right to easily remove pre-installed programs and gain access to applications and app stores of other operating systems and platforms, unsubscribe from services with the same ease with which they are lured to subscribe to them.
They will have the right to know why they are shown a particular ad and the right to refuse personalization based on analysis of their online behavior.
And new messengers will be given the right to demand minimum compatibility from existing ones so that users can exchange messages directly (in the first six months) and in groups (within two years). After 4 years, full compatibility must be guaranteed by law, including audio and video calls.
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