Five questions to understand everything about the European Union offensive against the GAFA

The European Union seeks to fight against the omnipotence of GAFA with a two-axis plan, presented on Tuesday.

For Joëlle Toledano, economist and guest of Europe 1, Wednesday morning, it is above all a question of "regaining power over these actors who have set up systems where they make the law".

ANALYSIS

Europe facing the internet mastodons, new round: the European Commission presented on Tuesday an unprecedented plan to try to counter the growing power of the digital giants, commonly called "GAFA" and foremost among which are Google, Apple, Facebook or Amazon.

The economist Joëlle Toledano was the guest of

Culture Médias on

Wednesday to discuss this new offensive of the European Union.

For the author of

GAFA, Let's take back the power!

(Editions Odile Jacob), we must be careful about the impact of these projects on digital behemoths.

What does this project contain?

These are actually two bills.

In the first text, we target the content we find on the internet, fake news, online hatred, racist attacks, etc.

Anything that is prohibited in "real life" should be prohibited in the digital world.

Platforms need to monitor and remove what is banned, otherwise they risk fines of up to 6% of their global turnover.

In the event of repeated breaches, the sanction may even go as far as the ban on operating in Europe.

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The second axis is to try to create a more balanced market.

The text specifically targets digital giants,

gatekeepers

(those who have the keys to the internet).

The Commission sets upstream rules to avoid monopolies and facilitate competition.

For example, it will be prohibited to loot data, as Amazon is doing.

There are also penalties, fines and even the possibility of dismantling companies on the European market.

Can the power of GAFA be countered with these texts?

For Joëlle Toledano, "it is a tool that will prevent the practices we have seen from happening again. It's perfect, but I'm not absolutely sure that all of this will allow us to 'go back', it 's that is to say that these empires are, if not dismantled, at least more open, that they too open their borders and are no longer the masters of their world. "

Is dismantling a good solution?

Yes and no.

According to Joëlle Toledano, it is necessary to differentiate between the companies concerned in terms of dismantling.

For example, the dismantling of Facebook (owner of the Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp services, among others) "may make sense from a competitive point of view and may restore momentum" in the markets concerned.

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But for other digital giants, such as Amazon or Apple, "it is very difficult to see where it would be necessary to dismantle so that it provides real good solutions": "The idea is not to punish them, but to revitalize these markets digital, which these actors have locked. However, they have provided us with services that are certainly not about doing away with. "

Do these texts play into the hands of the oriental giants?

The argument of the opponents of this text is to assert that by weakening the current giants, the European Union allows Chinese giants like Baidu, Tencent or Alibaba to conquer the European market more easily.

"As long as we have effective rules to transform (the giants) into normal corporate citizens, we will do the same with the others," sweeps the economist.

Should the leaders of the GAFA be targeted?

It is an instrument abandoned by Brussels but chosen by London: the British government, which also unveiled a legislative arsenal against the GAFA, on Wednesday, wants to put in place criminal sanctions against the leaders of the digital giants.

"It is a good axis of attack because otherwise, there is a real risk that this responsibility is diluted", underlines Joëlle Toledano, according to whom that could "block behavior".