The European Union intends to start applying Digital Markets Law (DMA) in the spring of 2023, the Commission’s executive vice-president, Margrethe Vestager, announced last week at the International Competition Network (ICN) conference. According to The Verge, Vestager previously stated that the antitrust legislation, which introduces a new set of rules to curb the power of Big Tech, could enter into force as early as October this year.
“The WFD will come into force next spring and we are preparing for its application as soon as the first notifications arrive,” said Vestager during his speech at the RIC.
The DMA, which still needs approval final of the Council and Parliament, defines these ‘Big Tech’ as companies that have a market capitalization of more than 75,000 million euros and own a social platform or app that has at least 45 million monthly users. These entities can face fines of “up to 10 percent of your total worldwide turnover in the previous financial year” if found to be in violation of DMA rules, a rate that could rise to 20 percent for repeat offenders.
This change is important because until now, the European Commission did not have enough power to punish large technology companies with real entity fines. Punishing a company that earns billions of euros with a penalty of a few million does not imply a harsh penalty for these companies.