The EU to Google: the Internet is not the Wild West

Europe intends to introduce new rules that must be respected by the realities of the online world, directly calling into question the overseas giants operating in the old continent. In a nutshell, this is what was communicated by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Commission Services of the von der Leyen Commission, on the occasion of his remote meeting with Sundar Pichai.

Europe: Breton in Pichai on the big names in the online world

The meeting took place after a document concerning a "60-day strategy" implemented by Google and the parent company Alphabet leaked from Mountain View precisely to counter the possibility of seeing introduced new posts in the EU area. The CEO apologized for the incident. These are Breton's words, from which a rather clear and well-defined stance emerges.

Internet cannot remain a Wild West: we need clear and transparent rules, a predictable context and a fair balance of rights and duties. Anything that is authorized offline should be online and anything that is prohibited offline should be banned online. Europe's position is clear: anyone is welcome on our continent as long as they respect our rules.

New drafts of the Digital Services Act (already mentioned on these pages in September) and the Digital Markets Act will be presented on 2 December. The introduction of the obligation to share certain information with competitors and with the authorities is foreseen, as well as the prohibition on promoting products and services in ways that could be detrimental to healthy competition on the market. The goal is also to encourage the entry and growth of new continental players.

Source: Reuters