The European Union reaches an agreement to regulate the digital giants

The logos of the American digital giants, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.

© AFP / DENIS CHARLET

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

This was one of the top priorities of the European Commission for its five-year term: bringing order to the internet jungle.

Whether it concerns security or online commerce, European rules date back to 20 years ago, the prehistory of the digital world.

After fifteen months of negotiations, the three European institutions reached an agreement on Thursday evening to regulate online commerce.

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With our correspondent in Brussels

,

Pierre Benazet

The text that still needs to be ratified will apply primarily to digital giants, including

Gafam

.

And the European commissioner Thierry Breton, author of this proposal for the regulation of digital markets, exults.

He says: “ 

We have regained power.

 »

This is legislation that will apply to systemic companies in the sector, those which have a turnover in Europe of 6.5 billion euros over three years or 65 billion in market capitalization with 45 million private users per month.

All internet giants like

Amazon

,

Google

or Meta, formerly Facebook, will fall into this category.

They will have to obey about twenty rules to give control back to users.

For example, they will not be able to prevent them from uninstalling pre-installed software and applications.

The possibility of using other download platforms

Users will be able to use download platforms other than those of the manufacturers of operating systems such as the App Store or Play Store.

The platforms will not be able to use the data of their professional customers for their benefit or give preference to their own services in the search results.

After years of racing after digital giants breached competition rules, the European Commission hopes for the application of these rules by next January.

They may lead to fines of 10% of turnover, or even double in the event of a repeat offence.

Also to listen: How to guarantee a fair and respectful internet?

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  • European Union

  • Digital

  • Gafa