E.U. Regulators Are at It Again

Björn Finke, reporting for Süddeutsche Zeitung (original in German; I’m quoting here from Safari 15’s translation to English):

For example, these powerful companies must no longer prefer their own services in search results, as Google did in the 2.4 billion case. You may also not collect business data from independent merchants on the platform and use it for your own offers, as Amazon is accused of. And they must allow mobile phone users to install other app stores and thus get more choice in mobile phone programs. This will hurt Apple a lot. In the event of violations, the Commission can intervene directly in the future without having to prove market power and harmful consequences in long investigations.

Misguided, to say the least.

Parliament expanded the list of platforms to be viewed and includes, for example, Internet-enabled TVs or voice assistants such as Alexa. On the other hand, MEPs increased the thresholds for sales to eight billion euros and the market value to 80 billion euros. This means that only Booking.com should be able to fall under the law from Europe for the foreseeable future. MEP Schwab argues that it is better for the Commission to focus on the really large companies in the implementation and control of the legal act. Critics warn, however, that the US government could consider it an unfriendly act if the groundbreaking law hits almost only American companies.

European regulations that are targeted, almost exclusively, at U.S. companies. You think that might be perceived here as “unfriendly”? You don’t say.

Another important addition to the Commission draft is that Parliament wants to force gatekeepers to allow exchanges between rival messenger services and social media. Then, for example, a user could send a message from WhatsApp to the competitor Signal — this opening should also stimulate competition.

This nugget is under a sub-head that was translated to “Send a message from WhatsApp to Signal? No problem”. No problem at all. Probably will only take a few lines of code to get all the world’s messaging systems — including those using end-to-end encryption like Signal and WhatsApp (and iMessage) — talking to each other.

They should do another draft that mandates the invention of personal jet packs and flying cars, too.

★ Tuesday, 23 November 2021