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UK News Coalition Urges PM to Protect Big Tech Regulation

By  |  October 23, 2023

In a united front, news publishers, consumer rights groups, business leaders, and cross-party peers have joined forces to ask the Prime Minister to stand firm on new laws regulating Big Tech. Concerns have arisen that PM Rishi Sunak might yield to pressure from online giants, potentially allowing them to challenge decisions made by the new digital watchdog.

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    The House of Lords Communications Committee, in a statement issued yesterday, cautioned the government against such a move, emphasizing that it could undermine the Digital Markets Unit’s (DMU) central goal of fostering fairer and more competitive markets, reported the Daily Mial. Their intervention received further support in an open letter organized by consumer advocacy group Which?, which was endorsed by numerous companies from the media, technology, and travel sectors.

    These signatories expressed unequivocally that there was ‘no justification or reason’ for this course of action and warned that it could solidify the dominance of major players like Google and Meta.

    Related: Regulators Move To Rein In Big Tech Dominance In Africa

    Under the provisions of the new Digital Markets Bill, the DMU will be granted the authority to levy fines on online corporations to prevent any unjust treatment of customers or companies and compel them to grant smaller competitors access to their substantial data reserves.

    It will also mandate that tech companies fairly compensate media outlets for the use of their content and prevent them from exploiting their global market supremacy to stifle competition in the digital advertising sphere.

    Currently, any decision made by the DMU will be subject to judicial review, a streamlined and cost-effective process that enables the implicated company to challenge the verdict based on a point of law.

    Source: Daily Mail