The law of digital markets enters into force, which will combat the abuses of large technology companies in Europe

Euskaraz irakurri: Indarrean sartu da merkatu digitalen Europako legea, teknologia handien gehiegikerien aurka borrokatzeko

has entered into force european law on digital marketswhich has the objective of combat the abuse of power by tech giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Apple. The rule, which sets new antitrust rules for large internet platforms, will not begin to apply for another six months, from May 2, 2023, as explained by the European Commission.

The objective of the regulation is to put an end to the unfair practices of digital platforms that serve as a link between companies and consumers.

The law establishes prior obligations in terms of free competition that technology companies must comply with before the EU investigates them, and that affect precisely the practices for which they have been fined in Europe in recent years.

Thus, it prohibits them from combining the personal data they acquire from users through the multiple services they offer. For example, it prevents Facebook from crossing the information it obtains from its social network with that of the WhatsApp messaging service, unless there is prior consent.

They will also have to give companies access to the data generated by their clients, allow users to uninstall the applications that come by default on mobile devices or technology companies will be prohibited from favoring their own services over those of the competition.

The law affects companies with 45 million monthly users and more than 10,000 business users per year, and foresees fines of up to 20% of their worldwide turnover and, ultimately, a restructuring of companies.