EU’s tech gatekeeper proposals spark tensions over need for ‘flexible’ regulation
If enacted, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act will significantly curb the power of Google, Facebook, Amazon.com and Apple. The legislation is now percolating through the EU’s labyrinthine lawmaking processes and, although widely supported, fault-lines are emerging over how rigorous the law should be, and how much in-built flexibility it requires. It’s a sensitive debate touching on the very philosophy of regulation: rigid rules versus more flexible lawmaking to account for business specificities. It also addresses the limitations of the EU regulator’s success in regulating Big Tech under existing rules.
