

Among the new rules: They can not lock users into their digital ecosystem - like Meta currently does with Threads - and share information between the two services.īreton said Meta and the other global tech giants would have to learn that “with great power comes great responsibility - and impeccable behavior.” Companies the EU designates as gatekeepers will have until early next year to comply with the new regulations or face hefty fines. The designation means the companies, because of their perceived market dominance, will have to comply with stricter regulations to operate in the EU. Meta’s business model could be under threat here.”Īlso on American Independence Day, Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, revealed in a LinkedIn post that Meta was one of the seven companies (alongside Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, TikTok owner ByteDance, Microsoft and Samsung) identified as “digital gatekeepers” under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). “It is significant in terms of enforcement powers, even if it is not yet clear how it will be interpreted to impact Meta’s wider data practices. “This week’s ruling strengthens regulators’ hands when it comes to Meta’s core business,” says Burns. Some have said the decision could mean the end, at least in Europe, of Meta’s “surveillance capitalism” business model. That ruling also supported the FCO’s claim that antitrust authorities can factor in privacy concerns when determining if a company is exploiting its competitive advantage. On July 4, the European Court of Justice, the EU’s supreme court, issued a judgment backing an earlier decision by Germany’s antitrust watchdog, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), that Meta has to get user consent before gathering data for its targeted, behavioral ads. Meta is appealing that ruling, but it is only one of several legal assaults by the EU on the foundations of its business model. But his pitch to advertisers is, critics say, more sinister: Threads is designed to track everything about its users, from location and browsing history to health and financial data, to better facilitate targeted advertising.ĮU watchdogs won’t like that, given that, in January, they ruled unlawful the legal basis Meta had been using to process its personal data from European Facebook and Instagram users to run targeted ads, slapping Meta with fines of $435 million (€400 million). Mark Zuckerberg is betting consumers, fed up with the chaos and toxicity of Twitter, will flock to his new microblogging app, billed as a “friendly” and “saner” alternative to the Elon Musk-run platform.

Hayao Miyazaki's Final Film, Renamed 'The Boy and the Heron,' Picked Up by GKIDS for North American Distribution
