JAKARTA - Google's Alphabet unit, Meta and other major online platforms must do more to tackle illegal content. Otherwise they will run the risk of hefty fines under new internet rules agreed between EU countries and EU lawmakers on Saturday, April 23. The agreement was reached after more than 16 hours of negotiations between them.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the second offshoot of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's strategy to control Alphabet units of Google, Meta and other US tech giants.
Last month, he won support from a 27-nation bloc and lawmakers for a landmark rule called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe.
"We have an agreement at DSA: The Digital Services Act will ensure that what is illegal offline is also seen and handled as illegal online. not as a slogan, but as reality," Vestager said in a tweet. The DSA itself will take effect in 2024.
European Union lawmaker Dita Charanzova, who had called for such a rule eight years ago, welcomed the deal.
"Google, Meta and other major online platforms must act to better protect their users. Europe has made it clear that it cannot act as an independent digital island," he said in a statement.
In a statement, Google said the rules should be handled more carefully because their implementation would be complicated. "When the law is finalized and implemented, the details will matter. We look forward to working with policymakers to get the remaining technical details to ensure the law works for everyone," said a source at Google.
Under the DSA, companies face fines of up to 6% of their global turnover for breaking the rules. While repeated violations can get them banned from doing business in the EU. This is of course very hard for Google, Amazon and Meta, because the threat of a very large fine.
The new rules also prohibit targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinion. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into providing companies with personal data online, will also be banned. This will make it difficult for Google, which has relied on such ads all this time.
Huge online platforms and online search engines will be asked to take special measures during a crisis. The move was prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the disinformation associated with it.
Companies can be forced to turn over data related to their algorithms to regulators and researchers. Companies also face annual fees of up to 0.05% of annual worldwide revenue to cover their compliance monitoring costs.
European Union MP, Martin Schirdewan, criticized the exceptions granted to medium-sized companies.
"Under pressure from conservative circles, the exclusion rule for medium-sized companies was integrated, this is a mistake. Since many companies fall under this definition in the digital sector, the exception is like a loophole," he said. .
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