EU to probe popular US sites over data use and search
April 30, 2015 6:14 pm
EU to probe popular US sites over data use and search
By Duncan Robinson and Alex Barker in Brussels
Brussels is set to widen its front against US tech
companies just two weeks after the launch of its landmark competition case
against Google by initiating a separate probe into a wider range of online
platforms.
The move marks a first step towards tighter EU regulation
of the internet and comes with the European Commission under pressure from
France and Germany to take a tougher line on tech groups such as Amazon and
Google.
In a draft plan for a “digital single market”
encompassing everything from online shopping to telecoms regulation, the
commission said it would probe how online platforms list search results and how
they use customer data. The latest draft of the plan, seen by the FT, will be
approved by the commission next week.
The plan could also bring in stricter rules for
video-on-demand services such as Netflix and messaging apps like WhatsApp and
Skype that have become big rivals to traditional European media and telecoms
companies.
Companies such as Airbnb and Uber are also likely to be
roped into any investigation into platforms, which will aim to determine
whether they are abusing their market power in the so-called “sharing economy”.
The EU’s intensifying assault on big American tech groups
has triggered accusations in the US, including from President Barack Obama,
that the bloc is engaging in protectionism.
The plan for a “comprehensive assessment” of online
platforms comes after French and German ministers urged the EU to launch an
investigation into the role played by the US internet giants.
Earlier this week, the French economic minister Emmanuel
Macron and German economic minister Sigmar Gabriel called for a “general
regulatory framework for ‘essential digital platforms’” in a letter to the
commissioner overseeing the reforms that was seen by the FT.
They wrote: “We believe that the growing power of some
digital platforms is a wider challenge that warrants a policy consultation with
the aim of establishing an appropriate general regulatory framework for
‘essential digital platforms’.”
The commission will start the probe “before the end of
2015”, according to the draft. It will look at the role of paid-for links and
advertisements in search results, along with the ability of individuals and
businesses to move from platform to platform.
“Some online platforms have evolved to become players
competing in many sectors of the economy and the way they use their market
power raises a number of issues that warrant further analysis beyond the
application of competition law in specific cases,” the 17-page document reads,
in a clear reference to the Google antitrust case.
Elsewhere in the draft, the commission said that it will
“review” whether on-demand services such as Netflix should be subject to the
same rules as traditional TV broadcasters. According to the document, on-demand
services are sometimes “subject to lower obligations” than their television
peers.
We believe that the growing power of some digital
platforms is a wider challenge that warrants a policy consultation’
- French and German economic ministers
Other measures to be proposed include plans to make it
easier for small merchants in the EU to sell goods to customers in other
countries. As part of the measures, ecommerce groups would be subject to their
own national laws rather than the buyer’s as well as a set of EU-wide
contractual rights. The commission will also crackdown on the opaque pricing
structures used by parcel companies for deliveries between EU countries.
The commission said it would launch long-awaited
copyright reform before the end of this year, which will probably spark a
tussle between large media groups, artists and producers as well as consumer
groups.
Brussels will aim to introduce the “full portability of
legally acquired content” and allow “cross border access to legally purchased
online services”. A crackdown on online piracy will focus on “commercial scale
infringements”, rather than individual abuses.
Finally, the commission will launch another attempt to
reform telecoms regulation in the EU, to apply the same rules for traditional
telecoms groups and internet rivals such as WhatsApp and Skype.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015.
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