big ones technology companies prepare for decision Brussels. This Wednesday, European Commission will announce the long-awaited list of platforms that will be directly affected by the crisis. Digital Markets Law (WFDPioneering legislation aimed at securing free competition and ending the abuse of power practiced by industry giants such as Google, Meta and Amazon.
On September 14, 2022, the authorities European Union (EU) They gave the green light to a text that stipulated particularly stringent obligations for the industry’s heavy artillery, called “protectors” (‘watchmen’ in English). If they do not comply, they can impose sanctions. sanctions that equates to 10% of its worldwide turnover, that is, billionaires. But it won’t be until this Wednesday, almost a year after it was approved, which services will be subject to compliance with DMA requirements.
Brussels will prepare the list based on the dominance of these companies over their own markets, while also taking into account other criteria. Those with a population of at least 45 million will enter. usersa volume business 7 billion 500 million euros to the European Union in the last three years and market capitalization at least 75,000 million.
Affected companies and services
These parameters ensure that among those affected will be corporate giants such as: alphabet (owned by Google and YouTube), Amazon, Meta (owner Facebook, instagram And What’s up), view And Microsoftalso other companies such as ByteDance (owner) Tiktok) anyone SAMSUNGAs they confirmed in July. Everyone will have a half-year margin until March 6, 2024 to comply with the law’s guidelines.
But the list released this Wednesday will not only determine which companies must comply with the DMA, but also which parts of their digital empires fall under the rule’s umbrella. This could be the case for Instagram, the employment social network LinkedIn, or the Google search engine, which has a huge market share of almost 93% in Europe.
The threat of fines means that some try to avoid the inclusion of some of their services until the last minute. According to the ‘Financial Times’, Apple and Microsoft pressured Brussels (separately) in the last hours, so both the instant messaging service iMessage like a search engine bing Their business is unaffected as they are much smaller than those of rivals WhatsApp and Google.
new obligations
The DMA aims to “finally” limit the market power of these companies, as the Internal Market Commissioner pointed out yesterday: Thierry Breton. Therefore, the law covers nine different sectors: social networksdesktop and mobile operating systems, web browsers, search engines, digital commerce platforms, tourist reservations, and video and audio streaming.
The obligations stipulated by the legislation in order to prevent monopolistic attitudes also vary. Thus, the exchange of user data of two different services (such as Facebook and Instagram) belonging to the same company was prohibited, mechanisms that would facilitate competition within the companies’ own platforms were included, and their preferences to promote their own products were limited.