Internet: Publishers: EU must regulate Facebook and Google more closely

Internet: Publishers: EU must regulate Facebook and Google more closely

The EU wants to regulate internationally operating platforms such as Google or Facebook in a more socially and market-compatible manner. However, the European publishers are not going far enough.

The EU plans to regulate large platforms do not go far enough for European publishers. You are specifically calling for more rules for platforms such as Google and Facebook.

In an open letter to the EU countries, the European publishers’ associations EMMA, which also includes the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ), and ENPA, to which the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) also belongs, complained that the area of ​​search engines and social networks at The issue of providing fair access conditions is not covered. The whole thing could thus become a «protective law» for Google and Facebook.

The background to all this is efforts by the EU for more regulation and containment of the market power of large international platforms. In a sense, the Commission approaches the current problems from two sides. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) deals with competition law issues. The Digital Services Act (DSA) addresses societal issues. The European publishers refer specifically to the DMA. The responsible ministers of the EU countries want to agree on a common position on November 25th. In the future, according to earlier plans, the DMA could come into force on January 1, 2023.

BDZV and VDZ support the open letter and stressed on Friday that the regulations of the current version endanger the variety of markets and media in the digital world.

ENPA and BDZV Vice President Valdo Lehari jr. underlined: «The DMA will become the European constitution of the digital markets. So far, however, it has lagged behind German law in important points and would thus become a platform protection law. ”

The two publishers’ associations warned that “gatekeeper platforms such as Google and Facebook could continue to decide at their own discretion on key issues which content and services citizens see and discriminate against third parties in their services.” In view of the experience in recent years with many protracted market abuse proceedings, this is not understandable.

Emma Vice President and VDZ General Manager Stephan Scherzer said of Germany’s role: “A license to discriminate for gatekeepers must not be the legacy of the incumbent federal government. Under no circumstances should the new federal government tolerate a start with such a digital and economic-political mortgage. ”

Source From: Stern

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