EU, Britain to toughen rules for US tech giants

Regulators seek to eliminate harmful content, allow for more competition

LONDON — Authorities in the European Union and Britain built momentum Tuesday for tougher oversight of the technology industry, as they introduced new regulations to pressure the world’s biggest tech companies to take down harmful content and open themselves up to more competition.

In Brussels, European Union leaders unveiled proposals to crimp the power of “gatekeeper” platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which policymakers argue deserve more oversight given their outsize influence. The proposed EU laws would require the companies to do more to prevent the spread of hate speech and sale of counterfeit merchandise, and disclose more information about how services like targeted advertising work.

In Britain, which is preparing to exit the bloc, the government proposed banning some harmful internet content like terrorism material, suicide videos and child abuse, which could result in billions of dollars in fines.

Separately, Irish regulators announced a fine of about $547,000 against Twitter for violating EU data protection laws, one of the first penalties of its kind.

The string of announcements helped reinforce Europe as home to some of the world’s toughest policies toward the technology industry.

“The European Union wants to be the leader in the tech regulation,” said Christoph Schmon, the international policy director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

But the region is no longer alone in its efforts to limit the power of Big Tech.

In the United States, regulators sued Facebook last week for illegally squashing competition, and Google was hit with an antitrust lawsuit in October.

In China, the government has begun to clamp down on local tech giants like Alibaba. Australia, India and Brazil are among others debating new regulations.

Governments are increasingly scrutinizing tech companies that have become critical infrastructure for billions of people and businesses to communicate, shop, learn about the world and be entertained. The result could be that the technology sector becomes more like banking, telecommunications and health care — industries of such size and importance that they are subject to more government supervision.

“2021 will be the year of regulation for the tech giants — they are a mature industry now, not shiny young startups,” said James Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We used to say too big to fail for banks, but banks are highly regulated and these guys are moving in this direction, too.”

The European Union proposals introduced in Brussels on Tuesday present the greatest risk to the tech industry, as the 27-nation bloc is home to roughly 450 million people, and its regulations often become a model for others in the world. The rules do not single out any company by name, though the targets were clear.