November 20, 2017 shows logos of US multinational technology
company Google displayed on computers’ screens.LOIC VENANCE /
AFP
Tech giants have changed our daily lives, but
governments around the world are worried that they are getting out
of control.
Dubbed the GAFAM — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft
— they are accused of not paying enough taxes, unfair competition,
stealing media content and spreading fake news.
As the European Union prepares to present measures to rein them
in on December 15, here is a global overview of the attempts to
regulate the companies.
– Taxation – The 27-nation EU has not yet agreed to tax the
digital giants, but some of its member states have forged
ahead.
France and Italy have imposed a three percent tax on their
turnover, while Austria is imposing a five percent tax on their
advertising revenues and Spain a three percent charge on some
activities.
Outside the EU, Britain has imposed a two percent tax on some
digital services.
Beyond Europe, in 2016 India imposed a tax on online
advertising, while Australia slapped a 10 percent VAT rate on some
digital services, such as streaming, downloading games and
applications for mobile streaming, e-books and data storage.
These moves have fallen foul of the United States, the home of
the digital giants. It has threatened tit-for-tat customs
duties.
Negotiations on a worldwide tax on multinationals led by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development broke down
in October.
– Nobbling competition – The digital giants are regularly
criticised for dominating the market by elbowing out rivals.
The EU slapped 8.25 billion euros ($10 billion) in fines on
Google between 2017 and 2019 for dominating the market via its
Android system, which Google is now challenging in court.
Microsoft was fined 561 million euros by the EU in 2013 for
imposing its search engine Internet Explorer on users of Windows
7.
Amazon and Apple are also being probed for alleged violations of
EU fair competition rules.
But the US is also acting on competition concerns, with US
federal and state antitrust enforcers filing suits against Facebook
on December 9 seeking to overturn its acquisitions of Instagram and
WhatsApp.
In October the Justice Department and 11 states launched
proceedings against Google, accusing it of having illegally
strengthened its monopoly on online searches and advertising.
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– Personal data – Tech giants are regularly criticised over how
they gather and use people’s personal data.
Brussels has led the charge to rein them in with its 2018
General Data Protection Regulation, which has since become an
international reference.
They must ask for consent when they collect personal
information, be transparent about how the data will be used, and
allow users to delete the data, with failure to do so punishable by
heavy fines.
Sanctions exist outside of Europe as well. A US court fined
Facebook $5 billion in May for failing to protect its users’
personal data.
– Fake news and hate speech – Social networks are often accused
of failing to reign in misinformation and hate speech.
The European Parliament and member states agreed on Thursday to
require digital platforms to remove terrorist content within one
hour or face heavy fines.
Several national laws have also attempted to take on the problem
of fake news.
In Germany social networks can face up to 50 million euros in
fines if they fail to respond to requests to withdraw fake news,
but also hate speech, terrorist propaganda and child
pornography.
In France a political candidate or party can ask a court to stop
the spread of “false information” during the three months before a
national election.
In Kenya, publishing “false, misleading or fictional
information” is punishable by a $50,000 fine and/or two years of
prison.
These measures remain controversial, however, with critics
saying they threaten freedom of speech.
Paying for content
GAFAM are accused by media outlets of making money from
journalistic content without sharing the revenue.
To solve this the EU in 2019 imposed a form of copyright law
called neighbouring rights that would allow outlets to demand
compensation for use of their content on online platforms.
After initial resistance, Google signed agreements with French
newspapers in November to pay for using their content, a world
first.
In one of the most powerful moves to check the power of US
digital giants, Australia also plans to compel the companies to pay
media organisations when their platforms host their content or face
millions of dollars in fines.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/12/reining-in-the-tech-giants/