Irish Examiner view: Tech giants will have to play by the rules

Digital Markets Act is the second part in the EU's revolutionary suite of legislation setting out to protect European citizens

2H4T0AD Facebook Meta Platforms

Last week — and not before time, it has to be said — the EU finally unveiled a set of ‘revolutionary’ laws aimed at curbing the power of six of the biggest tech companies on the planet.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the second major piece of legislation from the EU, following on from the Digital Services Act, which came into force on August 25 and is aimed a curbing online hate, child sexual abuse, and disinformation. It was unique in that it was the first time laws have been enacted in order to govern online content.

This time, however, the aim of the DMA is to protect consumers and allow them to choose the apps they want on their phones and to delete pre-loaded software if they wish.

It is also designed to create more competition in areas jealously guarded by tech giants and defines obligations gatekeepers must adhere to.

Gatekeeper roles — or controlling positions — have been commanded by companies such as Apple, Alphabet (which owns Google), Amazon, ByteDance (which owns Tiktok), Meta (Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook), and Microsoft for at least the last decade, but the new laws will give the European Commission the power to act should any of them step out of line.

Another aim of the legislation is to allow for more competition and to give tech start-ups to compete on a level playing field with the existing tech behemoths who now have six months to comply with a lengthy list of dos and don’ts, or else they will face financial pain up to and including 10% of their turnover.

In the case of, for example, Meta, that could mean fines of up to $12bn were the company found not to be in compliance with the EU’s new laws.

Big tech brings many benefits to our world but has for too long been given too free a rein in how consumers are treated and how their platforms are used to pepper the world with abject disinformation.

These two new sets of laws now seek to place proper controls on all aspects of their business and, as such, both are timely and much needed.

They will now have to play by rules other than their own.

Sea-change in Mexican politics

Women were not allowed vote in Mexico until 1953, but since then the country has seen a remarkable sea change in attitudes, to the point where two women are set to contest the forthcoming presidential election next year.

Opposition presidential candidate Senator Xóchitl Gálvez with supporters at a rally in Mexico City last week. Picture: Marco Ugarte/AP

Traditionally seen as a macho entity, Mexico is currently the largest nation to enjoy gender parity in parliament — women lead both houses of congress and a woman is the chief justice of the country’s supreme court.

In June 2024, two women will be the leading candidates to win the next election. Both have won the primaries of the country’s two leading political blocs and it is entirely feasible one of them will win and shatter a glass ceiling not even neighbouring US has managed.

Claudia Sheinbaum is a 61-year-old who until recently served as the mayor of Mexico City and who defeated five male candidates to win the nomination of the ruling Morena party and, if elected in June, will also become Mexico’s first Jewish head of state.

Her main opponent is expected to be Xóchitl Gálvez, 60, a senator and businesswoman of indigenous origin who has been selected to run by the Broad Front for Mexico party.

Although it is a major breakthrough for these two women to stand for the presidency, both know there is still a long way to go on women’s rights, particularly so with regard to abortion and gender violence.

Showing the red card to misogyny

In some ways observing the actions of Spain’s football federation chief, Luis Rubiales, in the month since he grabbed and forcibly kissed midfielder Jenni Hermoso after her side won the Women’s World Cup, was like repeatedly watching a slow-motion replay of a terrible car crash.

Protestors in Barcelona brandish red cards in response to Spain's soccer chief Luis Rubiales who grabbed and kissed soccer star Jenni Hermoso without her consent. The cards bear the hashtag #SeAcabó, meaning 'it's over'. Picture: Emilio Morenatti/AP

That he has finally resigned from his post is undoubtedly a welcome move for all concerned — apart from Rubiales — as the case had unleashed a national and international backlash of rage and disbelief and sparked an internal and global debate about overbearing masculinity and rampant sexism.

Greater fury was created by Rubiales’ apparent inability to accept any wrongdoing, despite being censured by Fifa and being backed into a corner by Hermoso’s decision last week to initiate criminal proceedings against him for sexual assault.

Claiming the only reason he quit was to prevent further damage to the joint bid by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco to host the 2030 World Cup finals, Rubiales’ head-in-the-sand stance has shown no real sign of abating. Indeed, his assertion of innocence and determination to clear his name suggested he has learned nothing from the whole sorry mess.

A half-hearted apology and attempts to portray the behaviour with Hermoso as ‘consensual’ cut no ice with anyone, particularly women.

In the long term, though, his actions may finally put the nail in the coffin of unacceptable male machismo in sport and its abusive effect on millions of women every day.

Behaviour like Rubiales’ may have seemed normalised in many societies, but reaction to his indefensible and systemic misogyny has confirmed previously acceptable behaviour is no longer OK, and nor will it be in the future.