Digital Services Act
MEPs back limits on Big Tech’s ability to set self-serving defaults
The European Parliament has agreed its negotiating position on draft legislation to put limits on how Big Tech can operate with the aim of rebooting competition and fair dealing in…
Digital regulation must empower people to make the internet better
All of us need to think carefully about how new rules will foster, not hinder, an online environment that allows for new forms of culture, science, participation and knowledge.
France asks search engines and app stores to remove Wish
Several French ministers have issued a common statement announcing that they have asked the main search engines and mobile app stores operating in France to hide Wish’s website and mobile…
European Parliament’s IMCO backs limits on tech giants’ ability to run tracking ads
In what looks like bad news for adtech giants like Facebook and Google, MEPs in the European Parliament have voted for tougher restrictions on how internet users’ data can be…
EU’s data protection adviser latest to call for ban on tracking ads
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB), an expert steering body which advises EU lawmakers on how to interpret rules wrapping citizen’s personal data, has warned the bloc’s legislators that a…
Europe’s digital rules reboot could tame Facebook, whistleblower Frances Haugen tells EU Parliament
In her latest turn in front of a phalanx of lawmakers, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen gave a polished testimony to the European Parliament on Monday — following similar sessions in…
European Union lawmakers are mobilizing support for a ban on tracking-based advertising to be added to a new set of Internet rules for the bloc — which were proposed at the…
Tech giants’ slowing progress on hate speech removals underscores need for law, says EC
Tech giants have gotten worse at removing illegal hate speech from their platforms under a voluntary arrangement in the European Union, according to the Commission’s latest assessment. The sixth evaluation…
Leak shows Facebook’s business model needs regulating, says MEP
The European Parliament’s lead and shadow rapporteur for a major reboot of the bloc’s digital rulebook have called for an investigation following the Facebook whistleblower leaks. One of the MEPs…
Clubhouse, Vimeo, DoubleVerify and others set to sign up to beefed-up disinformation code in the EU
Audio social network Clubhouse, video sharing platform Vimeo and anti-ad fraud startup DoubleVerify are among a clutch of tech companies and organzations preparing to sign up to a beefed-up version…
EU considers single rules for regulating vacation rental platforms
European Union lawmakers are consulting on how to regulate the short-term rental market across the bloc — asking whether a single set of pan-EU rules or something more locally flavored…
Europe plans a Chips Act to boost semiconductor sovereignty
The EU will use legislation to push for greater resilience and sovereignty in regional semiconductor supply chains. The bloc’s president trailed a forthcoming “European Chips Act” in a state of…
LinkedIn formally joins EU Code on hate speech takedowns
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has committed to doing more to quickly purge illegal hate speech from its platform in the European Union by formally signing up to a self-regulatory initiative that seeks…
Tech giants still aren’t coming clean about COVID-19 disinformation, says EU
European Union lawmakers have asked tech giants to continue reporting on efforts to combat the spread of vaccine disinformation on their platforms for a further six months. “The continuation of…
Europe to press the adtech industry to help fight online disinformation
The European Union plans to beef up its response to online disinformation, with the Commission saying today it will step up efforts to combat harmful but not illegal content — including…
Court overturns Amsterdam’s three-district ban on Airbnb rentals
A ban by Amsterdam authorities on housing owners offering their properties for vacation rentals in three central districts of the popular tourist city has been overturned after a court ruled…
EU’s top privacy regulator urges ban on surveillance-based ad targeting
The European Union’s lead data protection supervisor has recommended that a ban on targeted advertising based on tracking internet users’ digital activity be included in a major reform of digital…
EU chief warns over ‘unfiltered’ hate speech and calls for Biden to back rules for big tech
In a speech to the European Parliament today marking the inauguration of U.S. president Joe Biden, the president of the European Commission has called for Europe and the U.S. to…
Europe seizes on social media’s purging of Trump to bang the drum for regulation
Big tech’s decision to pull the plug on president Donald Trump’s presence on their platforms, following his supporters’ attack on the US capital last week, has been seized on in…
Understanding Europe’s big push to rewrite the digital rulebook
European Union lawmakers have set out the biggest update of digital regulations for around two decades — likening it to the introduction of traffic lights to highways to bring order to…
Europe lays out its plan to reboot digital rules and tame tech giants
European lawmakers have introduced two legislative proposals as part of a major policy reboot to update regional rules for digital business and rein in Big Tech. The Digital Services Act (DSA)…
Automattic, Mozilla, Twitter and Vimeo urge EU to beef up user controls to help tackle ‘legal-but-harmful’ content
Automattic, Mozilla, Twitter and Vimeo have penned an open letter to EU lawmakers urging them to ensure that a major reboot of the bloc’s digital regulations doesn’t end up bludgeoning…
Europe’s data strategy aims to tip the scales away from big tech
Google wants to organize the world’s information but European lawmakers are in a rush to organize the local digital sphere and make Europe “the most data-empowered continent in the world”,…
Europe urges e-commerce platforms to share data in fight against coronavirus scams
European lawmakers are pressing major e-commerce and media platforms to share more data with each other as a tool to fight rogue traders who are targeting consumers with coronavirus scams.…
Big tech’s ‘blackbox’ algorithms face regulatory oversight under EU plan
Major Internet platforms will be required to open up their algorithms to regulatory oversight under proposals European lawmakers are set to introduce next month. In a speech today Commission EVP…
Europe to limit how big tech can push its own services and use third-party data
European lawmakers are taking aim at big tech’s ability to push its own services in search results at the expense of rivals, with Commission EVP Margrethe Vestager confirming today that…
The EU parliament has backed a call for tighter regulations on behavioral ads (aka microtargeting) in favor of less intrusive, contextual forms of advertising — urging Commission lawmakers to also…
Europe eyeing limits on how big tech can use data and bundle apps — reports
European lawmakers are considering new rules for Internet giants that could include forcing them to share data with smaller rivals and/or put narrow limits on how they can use data…
EU lawmakers say it’s time to go further on tackling disinformation
A major European Commission review of a Code of Practice aimed at combating the spread of disinformation online has concluded the self-regulatory instrument is failing to deliver enough transparency or…
Google pushes Europe to limit ‘gatekeeper’ platform rules
Google has made its pitch to shape the next decades of digital regulation across the European Union, submitting a 135-page response yesterday to the consultation on the forthcoming Digital Services…
