The EU’s regulation of technology giants such as Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon has attracted worldwide attention. In fact, the development of the contemporary technology industry has come to a critical point, and stricter global supervision is inevitable.
Now, technology giants have increasingly become critical infrastructures for hundreds of millions of people and businesses around the world for communication, shopping, understanding the world, and leisure and entertainment. Now, the technology industry is no longer a dynamic startup company that dreams of changing the world, but is becoming more and more similar to traditional industries such as banking and communications, and requires more government supervision.
“The irresponsible behavior of the tech giants during the 2016 and 2020 general elections has aroused people’s attention to the alternation of powers, which led to the investigation of their antitrust behavior . The direction of the wind has changed.” James Lewis, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, said in an interview with reporters.
The European Union has always been the leader in the regulation of the technology industry. The recent introduction of two regulatory legislations may change the rules of the industry’s game. In the United States, regulators have started from the illegal cooperation between Google and Facebook in the field of advertising. In addition, Australia, India, Brazil and other countries have also begun to discuss new regulations for technology companies.
“In the past ten years, the rapid development of the mobile terminal of the Internet has led to cases that will certainly be surging in recent years.” The dean of the School of Law and Politics of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and the Zhejiang Law Society competed Wang Jian, president of the Law Research Association, told reporters.
Is the EU’s regulation too strict?
On December 15, 2020, the European Commission (The European Commission), the executive body of the European Union, released two new items that will affect how large technology companies operate. Legislative proposals, a “Digital Services Act” for illegal content, and a “Digital Market Act” for anti-competitive behavior.
This move aims to weaken the power of platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft that play the role of “gatekeeper” (gatekeeper). EU policy makers believe that given their huge influence, these technology companies need to