Getting tough on tech giants

TOUGH new laws to stop tech giants exploiting consumers and rivals were unveiled yesterday.

The draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill will aim to better protect Britons from online scams, such as fake reviews and subscription traps.

It will give a new web watchdog powers to rein in the world’s biggest search engines and social media firms, and ensure they pay a fair price to news publishers for content. Those who do not will face fines of up to 10 per cent of their turnover.

The Competition and Markets Authority estimates consumers lose £2.4billion from Google and Facebook’s advertising costs alone. The Bill will give the Digital Markets Unit the power to force online giants to comply with codes of conduct. It also aims to ‘protect consumers’ hard-earned cash from scams and boost consumers’ rights’.

Rocio Concha, of Which?, said: ‘The Government must urgently prioritise the progress of this draft Bill.’

THREE cheers for the Government for vowing to introduce legislation to curb the power of tech giants including Google and Facebook.

They will be forced to pay a fair price to media organisations for news content which helps drive their vast profits.

For far too long, these cowboys of Silicon Valley have abused their dominant positions. Simultaneously they exploit, and pose a risk to, high-quality journalism.

It’s high time they were reined in.