The legislators of the European Union voted Wednesday to strengthen draft rules to curb the tech giants of the United States, including the extension of the scope to its retail activities and its commercial users outside of Europe.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA), introduced in December by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, sets out a dos and don’ts for America’s designated gatekeepers. in line with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for violations, the first global.
Vestager’s proposal targets Amazon, Apple, Alphabet’s Google unit and Meta, but the European Parliament wants to extend it to the travel website booking.com, China’s Alibaba. < BABA.N> and online retailer Zalando.
EU lawmakers also want the rules to apply to web browsers, virtual assistants and connected TV, adding to Vestager’s list of online matchmaking services, social media, search engines, operating systems, advertising services on online, cloud computing and video sharing services.
The proposal would also make it easier for users to change the default settings of their services and products to rivals.
“It sends a clear message that in our EU democracy it is not up to BigTech to set the rules of the game, but to legislators,” Vestager said in a tweet while celebrating the vote.
Lawmakers will now have to reconcile their proposal with that of EU countries and the European Commission next year before the draft rules can become law.
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