One year in, EU turning up heat in big tech fight
big tech in the EU, the months ahead could prove a winter of discontent as the bloc wields a fortified new legal armoury to bring online titans to heel.
Since August 2023, the world's biggest digital platforms have faced the toughest ever tech regulations in the European Union — which shows no sign of slowing down in enforcing them.
Brussels scored its first major victory after forcing TikTok to permanently remove an «addictive» feature from a spinoff app in Europe in August, a year after content moderation rules under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA) started to apply.
That followed a seven-day period earlier in the summer in which Brussels issued back-to-back decisions targeting Apple, Meta and Microsoft.
And more is to come before 2024 is over, say officials.
The EU's moves are all thanks to two laws, the DSA — which forces companies to police online content — and its sister competition law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — which gives big tech a list of what they can and can't do in business.
Since the DMA curbs kicked in in March, the EU has notably pressured Apple to back down in a spat with Fortnite maker Epic over a gaming app store.
«The European Commission is doing the job: it is implementing the DMA with limited resources and within a short timeframe compared to lengthy competition cases,» said EU lawmaker Stephanie Yon-Courtin, who focuses on digital issues.
Jan Penfrat, senior policy advisor at online rights group EDRi, says changes are already visible: the DSA giving users the «right to
