Showing archive for: “European Public Law: EU”
Every Click You Make: Article 6(5)’s Search for a Limiting Principle
When does a “directions” button become a competition-law violation? When it points to Google Maps, according to the European Commission. A law meant to police search rankings is becoming a license to police the whole page. On July 23, the Commission fined Alphabet €460 million for favoring nine of its own services on Google’s search ... Every Click You Make: Article 6(5)’s Search for a Limiting Principle
Brussels Rules Without the Brussels Perks
Brussels’ latest competition guidelines should probably come with a warning label. Countries borrowing them risk importing dubious economics, remedies designed for Europe’s very specific institutional problems, and a trade fight with Washington. On Sept. 3, after a three-year process, the European Commission adopted its first guidelines on exclusionary abuses under Article 102 of the Treaty ... Brussels Rules Without the Brussels Perks
We Measured Europe’s Browser Revolution. Bring a Magnifying Glass.
Europe’s browser revolution appears to have left most browsers exactly where it found them. The European Commission is celebrating a “surge” in alternatives. The browsing data suggest a ripple. In April, the Commission reviewed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and pronounced it “fit for purpose.” “Alternative browsers and search engines are being increasingly chosen by ... We Measured Europe’s Browser Revolution. Bring a Magnifying Glass.
Proof of Age, Leap of Faith: The EU KIDS Act’s Security Gamble
The European Commission’s proposed EU KIDS Act would bar children under 15 from creating or using accounts on certain social-networking and video-sharing services, with a guardian-controlled option for 13- and 14-year-olds. It would also require providers to build broader safety protections into their services. Both sets of obligations would rely on age assurance—methods for verifying ... Proof of Age, Leap of Faith: The EU KIDS Act’s Security Gamble
The DMA’s Magic Words and Missing Off Switch
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) depends on two terms that lawmakers never defined. “Fairness” and “contestability” determine how the European Commission measures gatekeeper compliance, imposes new obligations, and grades its own performance every three years. The law uses both terms liberally but explains neither. Recital 79 even promises that the Commission will apply ... The DMA’s Magic Words and Missing Off Switch
Move Slow and Collude: The Antitrust Problem With Pacing AI
The frontier AI race’s latest safety proposal would have the leading contenders agree on how fast to run. Antitrust law has a less flattering name for that arrangement: a cartel. That is the central problem with the “pacing the frontier” plan that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei unveiled last weekend, and that fellow AI executives Sam ... Move Slow and Collude: The Antitrust Problem With Pacing AI
All-Inclusive Antitrust: Europe’s New Route to Merger Prohibition
Booking.com wanted to become a one-stop shop for a traveler’s entire journey. European regulators saw a different itinerary: a one-way trip to deeper dominance. In a closely watched Sept. 9 judgment, the European Union’s General Court upheld the European Commission’s 2023 decision blocking Booking’s acquisition of Etraveli. The court agreed that adding Etraveli’s flight-booking business ... All-Inclusive Antitrust: Europe’s New Route to Merger Prohibition
One AI, Two Rulebooks: Brussels’ ChatGPT Conundrum
ChatGPT can draft a memo, plan a trip, and search the web. As of Aug. 31, it can add another line to its regulatory résumé: The European Commission has designated it a “very large online search engine” under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The label may sound technical, but it captures a central problem for ... One AI, Two Rulebooks: Brussels’ ChatGPT Conundrum
Competing Too Well: Europe’s New Guide to Dominance
Brussels has finally given Article 102 an instruction manual. Issued Sept. 3, the European Commission’s first comprehensive Guidelines on exclusionary abuses of dominance under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) replace a legal scavenger hunt with a single framework. The catch is that the manual still gives the Commission considerable room ... Competing Too Well: Europe’s New Guide to Dominance
From Google Fines to French Wine: The Trade Case Against the DMA
Brussels has spent two years testing how much regulatory pain Washington will tolerate before reaching for the tariff book. President Donald Trump may have supplied the answer. His threatened Section 301 investigation—a process that allows the United States to retaliate against foreign practices that unfairly burden U.S. commerce—could turn Europe’s digital rulebook into a transatlantic ... From Google Fines to French Wine: The Trade Case Against the DMA
Brussels Tries to Fix the GDPR Without Making It Worse
Brussels has spent years proving that the easiest way to “fix” the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is to give more power to the institutions that made it unworkable. The Digital Omnibus initially looked ready to continue that tradition. Now, somewhat improbably, several EU governments appear determined to try actual reform instead. Ireland assumed the ... Brussels Tries to Fix the GDPR Without Making It Worse
Europe’s Privacy Paradox: Fort Knox for Search Data, a Checkbox for Your Phone
Brussels has developed a curious theory of digital privacy. Anonymous search queries need audits, screening, and a security cordon. Your messages, microphone, and screen can make do with a checkbox. That is the logic running through two decisions the European Commission adopted last week involving the same company, under the same law, on the same ... Europe’s Privacy Paradox: Fort Knox for Search Data, a Checkbox for Your Phone
