French President Macron outlines the EU’s digital transformation plans to “transform Europe into a digital power.” President Macron is due to take over the EU presidency on January 1st 2022 and will lead the way to way to transform the EU through a digital revolution.
Two legislative packages are currently underway at the EU level — the Digital Services Act and the Digital Market Act — and they will be the French presidency’s “top priorities”, according to him.
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He added that they would contribute to the “regulation and accountability of platforms.” This has been motivated by the bloc’s cyberwar with Google over publishing rows, led by French publishers.
The EU has always had issues with Big Tech
It is rumoured that one of Macrons agreements with publishers was to take a tougher stance on advertising giants like Google who have crippled the advertising sector in France.
In France the news publishers are closely allied to the political parties, much closer than in the UK, the narrative they paint can often wing the presidency.
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But it will also shake up the tax liabilities for these big tech giants, who profit from billions within the EU but pay very little tax due to tax loopholes and clever accounting. This will depend on how the UK places itself with a similar struggle going on between HMRC and the online giants of the world.
Brussels vows to ‘put order into chaos’ – with Digital transformation
Brussels vowed on Tuesday to “put order into chaos” as it unveiled plans to limit the power Big Tech companies have in the sector.
The European Commission’s landmark regulations, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) aim to curb the hegemony of dominant multinationals and force them to be more transparent about how content is ranked, advertised and removed.
It would also provide tech companies with a set of harmonised EU-wide rules to follow and would confirm the bloc’s ambition to become the global leader for digital regulation.
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