The giants of GAFA will be questioned by the US Congress.

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DAMIEN MEYER / AFP

Faced with the power of digital giants like Google and Facebook, which has become a source of concern, the leaders of the European Union must meet this Friday to prepare new legislation with stricter regulations against Gafa.

Meeting in Brussels for a two-day European summit, the heads of state must lay the foundations for a new regulation (“Digital Services Act”), expected in December, to supervise Internet platforms.

"Too big to care"

In draft conclusions, the leaders affirm that "to guarantee its digital sovereignty" the European Union must "strengthen its capacity to define its own rules and to make autonomous technological choices".

“At the international level, the EU will use its regulatory powers and tools to help shape global regulations and standards,” it is stated in these consulted texts.

At the heart of the proposals currently being drawn up by the European Commission is the idea that the Gafa (acronym for Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) have become "structuring platforms" which must be subject to increased supervision.

"Some platforms often behave as if they were too big to worry about the legitimate concerns about their role: 'too big to care'", declared this week the European Commissioner for Industry, Thierry Breton, stressing their "systemic nature" »During an exchange with MEPs.

“As for banks, we must therefore have the appropriate regulatory tools to supervise and control these players who are no longer simple hosts, but diversified and vertically integrated service providers,” added Thierry Breton.

A blacklist of harmful practices

According to documents, the Google search engine, the Amazon online sales platform, the Apple online store (App Store) and the Facebook social network could be affected by the new classification of "structuring platform".

In one of these documents, Brussels draws up a blacklist of harmful practices by digital giants that could be strictly limited or even banned.

The project could ban the compulsory pre-installation of applications on mobile phones and computers, autofavoritism which consists in highlighting products of its own group in Internet search results, or imposed online stores. automatically like Apple Store or Google Play.

Brussels could also force Gafa to share their data with companies that use their platforms.

These new regulations, if implemented, could succeed in bending these behemoths, mainly American, where several procedures for non-compliance with competition rules - which often last for years - have so far failed.

The Digital Services Act must update legislation dating back to 2004, when the internet giants were in their infancy.

It must also give EU competition authorities powers to limit Gafa's dominance in new markets.

Once drafted, the new legislation will be scrutinized by the European Parliament and the 27 Member States.

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