The alleged GAFAM are inactive targeted by the EU and US for a fig of allegedly unfair practices.
US tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft—collectively dubbed GAFAM—have been accused of not paying capable taxes, stifling competition, stealing media contented and threatening ideology by spreading fake news.
As a European Union tribunal rules Wednesday connected a 2.4-billion euro ($2.8-billion) anti-trust good connected Google, we look astatine however the bloc has tried to modulate Big Tech.
Nobbling competition
The integer giants are regularly criticised for dominating the marketplace by elbowing retired rivals.
The EU has slapped a full 8.25 cardinal euros successful fines connected Google for abusing its ascendant marketplace presumption crossed respective of its products.
The European Court of Justice successful Luxembourg volition regularisation Wednesday connected Google's situation to a 2.4-billion-euro good imposed by the EU Commission successful 2017 for abusing its powerfulness implicit its rivals successful online shopping.
Microsoft was fined 561 cardinal euros by the EU successful 2013 for imposing its hunt motor Internet Explorer connected users of Windows 7.
Amazon, Apple and Facebook are besides the targets of EU probes for imaginable violations of competition rules.
The EU has besides unveiled plans for mammoth fines of up to 10 percent of their income connected tech firms that interruption contention rules, that could adjacent pb to them being breached up.
Taxation
Germany, France, Italy and Spain won a large triumph successful June erstwhile the Group of Seven (G7) agreed to a minimum planetary firm taxation complaint of astatine slightest 15 percent chiefly aimed astatine the tech giants.
For years they person paid small oregon nary taxation done analyzable taxation avoidance schemes.
In 1 of the astir notorious cases, the European Commission successful 2016 recovered that Ireland granted "illegal taxation benefits to Apple" and ordered the institution to wage 13 cardinal euros positive involvement to the Irish taxpayer.
After a EU tribunal aboriginal ruled successful favour of Apple, the Commission turned to the European Court of Justice to appeal.
The pursuing year, Amazon was told to wage backmost 250 cardinal euros to Luxembourg implicit akin abuses there.
Personal data
Tech giants are regularly criticised implicit however they stitchery and usage personal data.
The EU has led the complaint to rein them successful with its 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, which has since go an planetary reference.
They indispensable inquire for consent erstwhile they cod idiosyncratic accusation and whitethorn nary longer usage information collected from respective sources to illustration users against their will.
Amazon was fined 746 cardinal euros successful July by Luxembourg authorities for flouting the EU's information extortion rules.
After having fined Twitter astir fractional a cardinal euros, the Irish regular opened a probe into Facebook successful April aft the idiosyncratic information of 530 cardinal users was pirated.
France has besides fined Google and Amazon a full of 135 cardinal euros for breaking rules connected machine cookies.
Fake quality and hatred speech
Social networks are often accused of failing to rein successful misinformation and hate speech.
The European Parliament and subordinate states agreed to unit platforms to region violent content, and to bash truthful wrong 1 hour.
EU rules present besides forbid utilizing algorithms to dispersed mendacious accusation and hatred speech, which immoderate large platforms are suspected of doing to summation advertisement revenue.
Paying for content
GAFAM are accused by media outlets of making wealth from journalistic contented without sharing the revenue.
To tackle this an EU instrumentality successful 2019 created a signifier of copyright called "neighbouring rights" that would let outlets to request compensation for usage of their content.
After archetypal resistance, Google signed agreements to wage for contented with respective French newspapers past year, a satellite first.
However, it did not halt the institution being fined half-a-billion euros by France's contention authorization successful July for failing to negociate "in bully faith" with quality organisations. Google has appealed.
© 2021 AFP
Citation: Europe's conflict to curb Big Tech (2021, November 10) retrieved 10 November 2021 from https://techxplore.com/news/2021-11-europe-curb-big-tech.html
This papers is taxable to copyright. Apart from immoderate just dealing for the intent of backstage survey oregon research, no portion whitethorn beryllium reproduced without the written permission. The contented is provided for accusation purposes only.
English (US) ·