EU hits international big tech with new wave of user safety effort data requests

AppleInsider

As part of its mandate in the Digital Services Act, the European Commission has sent requests for a new set of information about to 17 tech companies about how they protect users.

European Union flags

The European Commission is casting its net a bit wider on this round of information requests. In addition to the regulars it demands information from, in Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, it has also hit AliExpress, Zalando, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and more.

A report by Reuters on Thursday morning claims that data requested includes data relevant to the EU elections, how counterfeit goods are identified, plus information on how the platforms tackle both illegal content and sale of illicit goods. It's not clear why Apple is bundled up in this round of requests, but it potentially involves how it manages iMessage, or perhaps cloned apps on the App Store.

In total, the 17 companies under 10 different umbrellas must provide requested information by February 9.

The information request follows one on December 14, 2023. That request appeared to be a little more broad with some overlap to the new request. That request reportedly covered "systemic risks relevant to their services, in particular those related to the dissemination of illegal and harmful content, any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, as well as any negative effect on public security, public health, and minors."

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is another legislative package that will place restrictions on how tech giants operate. In this case, the DSA focuses much more on online content and moderation.

In a nutshell, the DSA puts additional responsibility on online platforms and tech companies to police content, including both reporting and taking down illegal content.

According to the provisions of the DSA, regulations will be applied on companies in tiers. The largest firms including those with more than 45 million active users across Europe will see the biggest effects. Apple falls into that category, but it has argued that iMessage specifically does not.

Additionally, the DSA will ban "dark patterns," or misleading user interfaces such as those that coerce users into subscribing to a platform or making an in-app purchase.



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pwrmac

Haha.. EU bureaucrats!! First they want to allow sideloading in iPhone and now they care or are concerned about user safety.

jimh2

iMessage should not be a problem since it is encrypted and there is no way to run ads or harvest data.

spheric

pwrmac said:

Haha.. EU bureaucrats!! First they want to allow sideloading in iPhone and now they care or are concerned about user safety.

"Haha. EU bureaucrats! As an American, I am unable to imagine how they could possibly care about two completely separate issues relating to digital services." 

nubus

pwrmac said:

Haha.. EU bureaucrats!! First they want to allow sideloading in iPhone and now they care or are concerned about user safety.

Eh... we're talking a directly elected parliament working with people elected by the local governments of 27 countries and the local governments are involved as well.
Democracy might not be the most efficient way of doing things and being held accountable does add to bureaucracy, but the alternatives are all worse.

With 539 votes for and 54 against this legislation has a very solid democratic support.

igorsky

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

inkling

That request reportedly covered "systemic risks relevant to their services, in particular those related to the dissemination of illegal and harmful content, any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, as well as any negative effect on public security, public health, and minors."

Yeah, I seem to recall that included in those bans on :"illegal and harmful content" during Covid having a "negative effect on... public health" were conspiracy theories that the Covid virus leaked out of the Wuhan lab, which is now a well-established fact.

danox

The EU will succeed in getting out of date software/hardware made just for them. They represent only 19% of Apple total sales worldwide, the market in Japan, China, and the USA are all larger than the entire EU when counted separately, the EU is falling behind the rest of the world and their actions won't save tech in Europe not the way they are going about it propping up money loser Spotify is the wrong way.

Apple should continue their efforts in India which in time will be larger than the EU (Europe) and the rest of the world which interestedly has a third Chinese company that has come out nowhere called Transsion who is now selling in Africa, Mideast, Central and South America.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/apple-hits-all-time-high-smartphone-market-share-takes-1-spot-for-2023/

https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/global-smartphone-market-2023

edited January 2024

spheric

igorsky said:

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

Zalando is a German shopping platform with more than 10 billion € revenue, and Booking.com is a Dutch company (though now owned by an American holding). 

TikTok is Chinese. 

Those are the three non-US entities on the list. 

Yeah, the US is at the forefront of certain tech industries. Obviously, that means that any regulation is explicitly anti-American and must be motivated by protectionism. 

Because Americans cannot fathom democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

danox

spheric said:

igorsky said:

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

Zalando is a German shopping platform with more than 10 billion € revenue, and Booking.com is a Dutch company (though now owned by an American holding). 

TikTok is Chinese. 

Those are the three non-US entities on the list. 

Yeah, the US is at the forefront of certain tech industries. Obviously, that means that any regulation is explicitly anti-American and must be motivated by protectionism. 

Because Americans cannot fathom democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

It is protectionism (looking out for the 1% within the EU territory which is spearheaded by Spotify) the common man in Europe isn't bitching it's a fight between the 1%ers , on the other side world Sweeney Todd at Epic is crying at Apple or Google in the USA he speaks for his interest and no one else the same applies to Spotify.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Spotify+profit+2023 Their business plan is unfixable. Nothing done by the EU is going to work for them.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=spotify+profit+2016-2023

edited January 2024

tht

danox said:

spheric said:

igorsky said:

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

Zalando is a German shopping platform with more than 10 billion € revenue, and Booking.com is a Dutch company (though now owned by an American holding). 

TikTok is Chinese. 

Those are the three non-US entities on the list. 

Yeah, the US is at the forefront of certain tech industries. Obviously, that means that any regulation is explicitly anti-American and must be motivated by protectionism. 

Because Americans cannot fathom democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

It is protectionism (looking out for the 1% within the EU territory which is spearheaded by Spotify) the common man in Europe isn't bitching it's a fight between the 1%ers , on the other side world Sweeney Todd at Epic is crying at Apple or Google in the USA he speaks for his interest and no one else the same applies to Spotify.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Spotify+profit+2023 Their business plan is unfixable. Nothing done by the EU is going to work for them.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=spotify+profit+2016-2023

Hmm, what’s the syntax for Wolfram Alpha? Looks interesting. 

It seems they have indexed publicly available information, and is able to make time history plots, which is cool. Tried making plots of marketshare, but it probably isn’t in a database it could query. What about co-plotting?

Yes, wondering what financial institutions are propping up Spotify if they have only made a profit in 2 or 3 quarters over the last 8 years or so. 

danox

tht said:

danox said:

spheric said:

igorsky said:

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

Zalando is a German shopping platform with more than 10 billion € revenue, and Booking.com is a Dutch company (though now owned by an American holding). 

TikTok is Chinese. 

Those are the three non-US entities on the list. 

Yeah, the US is at the forefront of certain tech industries. Obviously, that means that any regulation is explicitly anti-American and must be motivated by protectionism. 

Because Americans cannot fathom democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

It is protectionism (looking out for the 1% within the EU territory which is spearheaded by Spotify) the common man in Europe isn't bitching it's a fight between the 1%ers , on the other side world Sweeney Todd at Epic is crying at Apple or Google in the USA he speaks for his interest and no one else the same applies to Spotify.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Spotify+profit+2023 Their business plan is unfixable. Nothing done by the EU is going to work for them.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=spotify+profit+2016-2023

Hmm, what’s the syntax for Wolfram Alpha? Looks interesting. 

It seems they have indexed publicly available information, and is able to make time history plots, which is cool. Tried making plots of marketshare, but it probably isn’t in a database it could query. What about co-plotting?

Yes, wondering what financial institutions are propping up Spotify if they have only made a profit in 2 or 3 quarters over the last 8 years or so. 

Go to WolframAlpha website type in at the requestor    Spotify net income  for multiple companies type in  Apple Spotify Tesla net income

Space between each word and press return at the end

spheric

tht said:

danox said:

spheric said:

igorsky said:

My only hope is that the EU holds the European tech industry to the same standards that they hold the American tech industry to. 

Hahaha just kidding. You can tell I was joking because I used the term “European tech industry”. 

Zalando is a German shopping platform with more than 10 billion € revenue, and Booking.com is a Dutch company (though now owned by an American holding). 

TikTok is Chinese. 

Those are the three non-US entities on the list. 

Yeah, the US is at the forefront of certain tech industries. Obviously, that means that any regulation is explicitly anti-American and must be motivated by protectionism. 

Because Americans cannot fathom democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

It is protectionism (looking out for the 1% within the EU territory which is spearheaded by Spotify) the common man in Europe isn't bitching it's a fight between the 1%ers , on the other side world Sweeney Todd at Epic is crying at Apple or Google in the USA he speaks for his interest and no one else the same applies to Spotify.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Spotify+profit+2023 Their business plan is unfixable. Nothing done by the EU is going to work for them.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=spotify+profit+2016-2023

Hmm, what’s the syntax for Wolfram Alpha? Looks interesting. 

It seems they have indexed publicly available information, and is able to make time history plots, which is cool. Tried making plots of marketshare, but it probably isn’t in a database it could query. What about co-plotting?

Yes, wondering what financial institutions are propping up Spotify if they have only made a profit in 2 or 3 quarters over the last 8 years or so. 

This was 2020, but it’s probably still more or less accurate: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/who-really-owns-spotify-955388/amp/

spheric

AllM said:

spheric said:

democratically elected politicians actually working in their constituents’ interest, apparently. 

A bit of an oxymoron, is it not? 

How so?