EU Tech Regulation—Good Intentions, Unclear Consequences: 2024 in Review

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For a decade, the EU has served as the regulatory frontrunner for online services and new technology. Over the past two EU mandates (terms), the EU Commission brought down many regulations covering all sectors, but Big Tech has been the center of their focus. As the EU seeks to regulate the world’s largest tech companies, the world is taking notice, and debates about the landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) have spread far beyond Europe. 

The DSA’s focus is the governance of online content. It requires increased transparency in content moderation while holding platforms accountable for their role in disseminating illegal content. 

For “very large online platforms” (VLOPs), the DSA imposes a complex challenge: addressing “systemic risks” – those arising from their platforms’ underlying design and rules – as well as from how these services are used by the public. Measures to address these risks often pull in opposite directions. VLOPs must tackle illegal content and address public security concerns; while simultaneously upholding fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression; while also considering impacts on electoral processes and more nebulous issues like “civic discourse.” Striking this balance is no mean feat, and the role of regulators and civil society in guiding and monitoring this process remains unclear.  

As you can see, the DSA is trying to walk a fine line: addressing safety concerns and the priorities of the market. The DSA imposes uniform rules on platforms that are meant to ensure fairness for individual users, but without so proscribing the platforms’ operations that they can’t innovate and thrive.  

The DMA, on the other hand, concerns itself entirely with the macro level – not on the rights of users, but on the obligations of, and restrictions on, the largest, most dominant platforms.  

The DMA concerns itself with a group of “gatekeeper” platforms that control other businesses’ access to digital markets. For these gatekeepers, the DMA im

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