The UK is moving ahead with a plan to regulate big tech, responding to
competition concerns over a ‘winner takes all’ dynamic in digital
markets. From a report: It will set up a new Digital Market Unit (DMU) to
oversee a “pro-competition” regime for Internet platforms — including
those funded by online advertising, such as Facebook and Google — the
Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced today.
It’s moving at a clip — with the new Unit slated to begin work in April.
Although the necessary law to empower the new regulator to make
interventions will take longer. The government said it will consult on
the Unit’s form and function in early 2021 — and legislate “as soon as
parliamentary time allows.” A core part of the plan is a new statutory
Code of Conduct aimed at giving platform users more choice and third
party businesses more power over the intermediaries that host and
monetize them. The government suggests the code could require tech giants
to allow users to opt out of behavioral advertising entirely — something
Facebook’s platform, for example, does not currently allow. It also wants
the code to support the sustainability of the news industry by “rebalancing” the relationship between publishers and platform giants, as
it puts it. …
