UK Also Targets Big Tech... Proposes Regulations on 'US IT Giants'

The UK is introducing a new bill to regulate IT giants such as Google, Meta, and Amazon. The new regulation is designed to more actively check big tech companies to prevent the monopolistic harms of big tech from leading to consumer damage.

On the 25th (local time), major foreign media reported that the bill prepared to regulate the digital market in the UK has reached political consensus and is about to be implemented.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Originally, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), equivalent to the Fair Trade Commission, established the Digital Markets Unit two years ago to regulate new markets such as social media, search engines, and e-commerce. However, the legal basis was insufficient for regulatory activities befitting the department's name.

If this bill is enacted, substantial regulatory activities by the Digital Markets Unit will become possible. It will enable preemptive regulation of big tech companies operating in the UK, such as Google, Meta, and Amazon.

The bill focuses on preemptive regulation to prevent the monopolistic harms of US big tech companies from unfairly infringing on consumer interests. Violations can result in fines of up to 10% of global revenue. The regulation applies to big tech companies with annual global revenues of 25 billion pounds (approximately 41.7 trillion KRW) or more, or revenues of 1 billion pounds (approximately 1.67 trillion KRW) or more within the UK.

A CMA official stated that the bill aims to prevent harms such as user-based advertising that infringes on user privacy, fake news, and malicious comments, and to strengthen consumer rights protection.

Sarah Cardell, head of the CMA, said, "This bill will be a turning point in reshaping the digital market to protect consumers' rights and the UK economy." Last year, the CMA blocked the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by US Microsoft (MS) by demanding a corporate split as a condition for the merger and acquisition (M&A).

Meanwhile, the US administration and political circles are pushing for regulatory bills targeting big tech. The European Union (EU), which began discussions in 2020 on regulating the abuse of digital market dominance and establishing competitive order, passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) last year. In Germany, the more stringent German Competition Prevention Act 'Section 19a' was introduced and implemented in January 2021, surpassing the EU's DMA and DSA.