Amazon is resisting stricter supervision in the EU, under which the world’s largest online retailer is to fall under new digital laws. The US group appealed to the EU court in Luxembourg against the status of a particularly large online platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Amazon argued on Tuesday that as a retailer of consumer items, it is not the kind of online platform for which the DSA rules were created. Because their goal is to minimize the risks through services that spread information and opinions and are financed by advertising.
Also, Amazon is not the largest retailer in any of the individual EU countries. If the group were subject to stricter supervision as a large platform and the local retail competitors were not, Amazon would be disadvantaged, it said. At the same time, Amazon emphasized that a lot has been done for years to protect customers from illegal goods such as counterfeit products.
The EU Commission also considers Google’s shopping marketplace and the Chinese online retailer Alibaba to be particularly large online platforms. The German fashion retailer Zalando went to court against the classification at the end of June. He argued that the EU Commission had ignored his hybrid business model: because Zalando also sells its own items. However, the DSA does not apply to retail, which is why the number of customers in this category was not allowed to be counted.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasized at the time that the DSA was not just about hate speech, false information or cyber bullying – but also about compliance with age restrictions and the fight against illegal or unsafe articles.
Among other things, the DSA is intended to ensure that platforms remove illegal content on their sites more quickly than before. Particularly strict requirements apply to very large platforms and search engines with more than 45 million active users per month. For example, they have to submit a risk assessment once a year with regard to harmful content and propose countermeasures. They also have to share data with authorities and researchers. (dpa)