Trump vs EU: the European laws curbing big tech and irking US president

The European Union is back in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over its tech rules, which Washington denounced as an attempt to “coerce” American social media platforms into censoring viewpoints they oppose.\nThe US State Department said on Tuesday it would deny visas to a former EU commissioner and four others, saying they “have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies”.\nTrump has vowed to punish countries that seek to curb US big tech firms.\nBrussels has adopted a powerful legal arsenal aimed at reining in tech giants – namely through its Digital Markets Act (DMA), which covers competition, and the Digital Services Act (DSA) on content moderation.\nThe EU has already slapped heavy fines on US behemoths including Apple, Meta and X under the new rules.\n\nDigital Services Act\nRolled out in stages since 2023, the mammoth Digital Services Act forces online firms to aggressively police content in the 27 countries of the European Union or face major fines.\nAimed at protecting consumers from disinformation and hate speech as well as counterfeit or dangerous goods, it obliges platforms to swiftly remove illegal content or make it inaccessible.\nThe law instructs platforms to suspend users who frequently share illegal content such as hate speech – a provision framed as “censorship” by detractors across the Atlantic.\nTougher rules apply to a designated list of “very large” platforms that include US giants Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Snapchat and X.\nThese giants must assess dangers linked to their services regarding illegal content and privacy, set up internal risk mitigation systems, and give regulators access to their data to verify compliance.\nViolators can face fines of up to six per cent of global turnover, and the EU has the power to ban offending platforms from Europe for repeated non-compliance.\nElon Musk’s X was hit with the first fine under the DSA on December 5, a €120 million (US$140 million) penalty for a lack of transparency over what the EU calls the deceptive design of its “blue checkmark” for supposedly verified accounts, and its failure to provide access to public data for researchers.\nDigital Markets Act\nSince March 2024, the world’s biggest digital companies have faced strict EU rules intended to limit abuses linked to market dominance, favour the emergence of start-ups in Europe and improve options for consumers.\nBrussels has so far named seven so-called gatekeepers covered by the Digital Markets Act: Google’s Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok parent ByteDance, Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, Microsoft and travel giant Booking.\nGatekeepers can be fined for locking in customers to use pre-installed services, such as a web browser, mapping or weather information.\nThe DMA has forced Google to overhaul its search display to avoid favouring its own services – such as Google Flights or shopping.\nIt requires that users be able to choose where they download apps – without going via the dominant two players, Apple’s App Store and Google Play.\nAnd it has forced Apple to allow developers to offer alternative payment options directly to consumers – outside the App Store, hitting it with a fine of €500 million (US$589 million) in April.\nThe DMA has also imposed interoperability between messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger and competitors who request it.\nThe EU fined Meta €200 million (US$236 million) in April over its “pay or consent” system after it violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram.\nFailure to comply with the DMA can carry fines in the billions of dollars, reaching 20 per cent of global turnover for repeat offenders.\n\nGPDR and AI\nThe EU’s data protection rules (GDPR) have also tripped up US tech giants, with Brussels issuing numerous fines since they came into force in 2018.\nThe rules require firms to seek the consent of users to collect personal data and to explain what it will be used for, and give users the right to ask firms to delete personal data.\nFines for violations can go as high as €20 million (US$23.6 million) or four per cent of a company’s global turnover.\nThe EU has also adopted its AI act which will gradually bring in guardrails on using artificial intelligence in high-risk areas such as security, health and civic rights. In the face of pressure from the industry, the EU is considering weakening the measures and delaying their implementation.\n