"she really hates America. "

Four years ago, former US President Donald Trump complained publicly to heads of state at the G7 summit about Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust chief who has always been known for his "harshness".

Vestager is a hardline and important promoter of EU technology regulation. During her tenure as competition commissioner of the European Commission, she was known as the "Silicon Valley policewoman" for frequently imposing sky-high fines on American technology giants such as Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc-CL C.

Now, her consistent antitrust action plan has made a breakthrough.

On the evening of March 24, local time, at the EU headquarters in BrusselsMember states and legislators have reached an agreement on the Digital Markets Act (Digital Markets Act, DMA)And the final text is published.

The new rule targets anti-monopoly governance at Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc-CL C, Meta (formerly Facebook Inc), Amazon.Com Inc and Microsoft CorpIt aims to regulate the business behavior and market dominance of the five major companies in Europe.Silicon Valley giants who meet the "gatekeeper" criteria will face huge fines and even the risk of being split if they violate the provisions of the bill.

The style of the bill, like its leader, Vestager, is strict, tough and distinct between likes and dislikes. It is evaluated that DMA is "the first comprehensive revision of Internet competition rules in the EU in 20 years", and it is also the most comprehensive science and technology regulatory legislation in the EU after the adoption of the General data Protection regulations (GDPR) in 2018, which has milestone significance and far-reaching impact on a global scale.

The bill could reshape the way app stores, online advertising, e-commerce, text messaging and other everyday digital tools operate, and change the existing core businesses and business models of large technology companies.

Just a week after DMA was finalized, Vestager said to the public that another major antitrust sister proposal--Digital Services Act (Digital Services Act, DSA)It is expected to be finalized within 4 months, with a focus on the platform's regulatory responsibility for content and targeted advertising.

With both arrows fired by the European Union, the "gatekeeper" will not sit idly by. However, after a circle of fierce lobbying, their protest speech did not change the attitude of the European Union and the realistic direction of legislation. In accordance with the EU legislative process, after the legal text is finalized, it will be submitted to the European Parliament and the European Council for a vote, and will be implemented in the member states six months after it comes into force.

In fact, the final voting session is just a formality.Vestager expects DMA to come into effect in October this year. The boots of the new rules fall to the ground, and the real future is uncertain: the big internet companies on the other side of the Atlantic who are unwilling to be tamed.

01 the Iron Lady and the gatekeeper

Before Trump complained, Apple Inc CEO Cook also publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Vestager, saying that it was a "policy injustice" for her to ask Apple Inc to pay more taxes.

In the European Union and around the world, Vestager is the number one standard-bearer in advocating Internet antitrust and technology regulation. She became EU Competition Commissioner in 2014 and was appointed Executive Vice President of the European Commission in 2019, with the authority to build an European digital governance strategy.

The power of most of her colleagues is subject to restrictions, but she is an exception-not only to prevent mergers and raids on private offices, but also to impose huge fines on multinationals.

The outside world is afraid of Vestager's powerful power. On Twitter, her colleagues were ridiculed as slow-witted idiots or scheming politicians. By contrast, Vestager is portrayed as a "medieval queen of force" with arrogant eyes and two war axes.

It is driven by the Iron Lady.DMA accelerated all the way from the original proposal to reach an agreement within the legislature after 16 months, laying the foundation for eventual approval. Under the EU's legislative process, this series of actions is fast enough.

The most closely watched content in DMA isThe conditions and standards for the identification of "gatekeeper" are clearly defined for the first time.

The so-called"gatekeeper" refers to large-scale Internet online platform enterprises.These platforms usually have great wealth, steadily occupy a dominant position in the market, can connect a large number of users with enterprises, and hold key data resources.

According to the Act, the "gatekeeper" is required to meet the following conditions at the same time:

1. In the past three fiscal years, the annual turnover in the European Union was at least 7.5 billion euros, or the market capitalization was at least 75 billion euros.

two。 In the European Union, there are at least 4500 million end users per month and at least 10,000 enterprise users each year.

3. One or more core platform services in at least three EU member states, such as app stores, search engines, social media, cloud services, online advertising and browsers, must be controlled.

According to these criteria, the US technology companies that are qualified to be gatekeepers are the top US technology companies in the global market capitalization rankings.Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc-CL C, Meta, Amazon.Com Inc and Microsoft Corp are all in the category of "hunting". Among the local Internet companies in the European Union, only Spotify is expected to be one of them, but the current strength is not enough.

However, Vestager denied that DMA was only aimed at the United States."DMA is not aimed at certain enterprises or the nationality of certain enterprises. "We are trying to figure out who should be within the scope of governance and who is likely to be the 'gatekeeper', which is related to the market effect," she said in an interview with the Financial Times last year. "

Another highlight of the DMA is the high level of fines. If the gatekeeper breaks the rulesThe European Commission can impose a fine of 10% of global income in the previous year; if it is a repeated offence, the proportion can be increased to 20%.

Apple Inc, for example, had total revenue of $365.8 billion in fiscal year 2021. If the EU imposed an antitrust fine on it, Apple Inc, a "rich country", could have to cut off nearly $36.6 billion.

"No company would be dismissive of a fine of up to 20 per cent of its global income. Thierry Thierry Breton, EU internal market commissioner, said.

If an enterprise "refuses to change after repeated teachings", the European Commission has the right to conduct market research on it.Businesses can be split if necessary, or they may be banned from acquiring other companies for a period of time.

DMA is a supplement to the competition law system of the European Union and member states, and does not affect the original competition law.

"one of the things I have learned during my seven or eight years as EU competition commissioner is that dealing with some questions requires systematic answers and efficiency. At this year's South by Southwest Conference, Vestager said in an interview with foreign media.If illegal behavior is allowed to exist, even for a short time, competitors and consumers will face great pain and risk.

She expects the new rules to solve systemic problems that cannot be solved by a single enforcement action, through legislation to simplify the EU's previous struggles with technology giants, and to create a fair, open and competitive market.

It is worth pointing out,Vestager also said he was looking at cryptocurrencies and meta-universes.Once she finds out what these new technological species are, the next step may be to consider regulation.

02 left hand DMARight hand DSA

The final text of the DMA was released on the evening of March 24 local time after eight hours of tripartite talks.

As early as December 2020, the European Commission put forward two major legal proposals in the field of digital compliance and regulation, namely, DMA and DSA. At that time, there was no agreement on the identification criteria and scope of obligations of "gatekeepers" within the European Union.

Compared with the original version of the proposal, the new version of the bill that has been finalized has the following key changes:

1. In the scope of "core platform services", web browsers and voice assistants have been added, but networked TV has been excluded.

two。 Raised the threshold for the identification of "gatekeepers", increased the annual income of 6.5 billion euros and market capitalization of 65 billion euros to 7.5 billion euros and 75 billion euros respectively, and quantified the number of monthly end users and annual enterprise users.

3. Linkage with GDPR, strictly restrict the "gatekeeper" cross-platform merger to process data

4. Raise the penalty ceiling from 10 per cent of global income to 20 per cent.

In reality, the antitrust struggle between the European Union and large Internet companies such as Alphabet Inc-CL C and Apple Inc is a long tug-of-war. Antitrust agencies in Europe and the United States have also been criticized for being inefficient and slow to respond.

Gu Zhengping, partner of Anjie Law firm and antitrust lawyer, told Geek Park that this is becauseThe identification of monopoly behavior in the Internet environment involves a series of complex legal and economic analyses.

Specifically, it involves how to define the relevant market, identify the market share and position, whether the enterprise abuses the dominant position, whether the enterprise behavior has reasonable business reasons, and whether it has caused the damage of market competition.

If the suspected monopolistic behavior not only causes a certain degree of competition damage, but also has the effect of promoting competition, it is necessary to comprehensively consider which role is more important between promoting competition and hindering competition. It needs to be identified and analyzed in combination with specific business situations and industry characteristics.

For antitrust, the continuous dynamic change and innovation is an important influencing factor.

In the era of PC, governments of various countries were very wary of the then technology giant-Microsoft Corp, and used anti-monopoly laws to conduct continuous investigations into Microsoft Corp.

Entering the era of mobile Internet, platform enterprises have created a new business model, resulting in the original anti-monopoly laws and law enforcement tools lag behind, unable to keep up with all kinds of new business type spawned by scientific and technological progress and commercial evolution.

In Gu Zhengping's view, the technology companies in the traditional PC era mainly rely on technology promotion, and mainly serve offline traditional industries, and the business logic is relatively simple. The new Internet platform economy goes deep into all aspects of social life, whether users or related enterprises, are more dependent on the platform.

The platform, especially the super platform, has a large amount of user data, has a stronger network locking effect, and is more likely to have a strong power of control and control. it is easier to use data to manipulate and mislead user behavior, abuse its dominant position to suppress competitors, and undermine fair competition in the market, so regulators need to carry out more comprehensive and effective supervision.

The new DMA regulations set quantitative indicators for identifying gatekeepers and a clear list of acts, which are highly directional and impose heavier penalties for illegal acts, which will help to promote the investigation of Internet giants and improve the efficiency of law enforcement and judicature. "he said.

As a companion to DMA, DSA is expected to finalize it within April of this year.

Different from the "gatekeeper" anchored by DMA, the focus of DSA is to strictly regulate platform giants to use their huge data resources to push targeted online advertisements, especially banning ads aimed at underage users, while requiring the platform to assume more responsibility for content regulation.

More time is needed to verify the actual impact and implementation effect of the new rules. The European Commission said that it wouldEstablish an advisory committee and a high-level working group to be responsible for the specific implementation of the next phase of the bill.

With a combination of punches, the compliance mantra of large technology companies is getting tighter and tighter.

03 supervision under the dark cloudsThe gatekeeper seeks resistance

Brussels to the left, Silicon Valley to the right.

The European Union is engaged in an escalating antitrust war with big technology companies, while Silicon Valley giants continue to protest while trying to lobby.

Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, pointed out in his column that some of the details of the new law "may lead to the rigidity of the way products are served, hindering continued technological progress and iteration".

A spokesman for Apple Inc said that some of the DMA rules may create unnecessary privacy risks and security vulnerabilities for Apple Inc users, and will also hinder the company's revenue from intellectual property rights.

Alphabet Inc-CL C is worried that some DMA rules will hinder the process of innovation in Europe. Amazon.Com Inc is reviewing the impact of the new rules on customers and entrusting research institutions to evaluate them.

At the same time, Silicon Valley giants are constantly lobbying Brussels to guide the direction of legislative regulation.

According to data released by the European Enterprise Observatory (Corporate Europe Observatory), an EU research group, more than 150 recorded meetings involving 103 organizations have been held between large technology companies and EU officials since the establishment of the new European Commission at the end of 2019.

However, in the eyes of EU officials, the lobbying efforts of technology companies are "clumsy" and futile. Seeing themselves in vain, big companies have changed their strategies and focused on how to comply with the new law.

According to foreign media reports, the legal teams of Alphabet Inc-CL C, Apple Inc and Amazon.Com Inc are already considering the implementation of the new rules as part of optimizing the company's business, including the creation of a new compliance department.

More crucially, these companies face adjustments to their core business and business models. According to DMA, potential changes for each family may include:

• The "walled garden" built by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc-CL C in the app store may be loosened to allow App developers such as Spotify to use other payment systems.

• Apple Inc wants to allow iPhone users to download App from competitor's app store.

• The original online advertising business model of Meta and Alphabet Inc-CL C will be restricted and personalized advertisements will not be pushed to users based on data information without their consent.

• WhatsApp, owned by Meta, may be required to provide services to users of competitors such as Signal or Telegram, so that they can use WhatsApp to send and receive messages to others

• Amazon.Com Inc will be banned from using data collected from outside sellers in the service to gain a competitive advantage.

The changes listed above are only part of it. Some foreign media jokingly saidThe terms of the bill are like a "desire list" from Silicon Valley competitors.

DMA ushered in a new era of global technology regulation, ending the growing dominance of large technology companies. On the night of the finalization, Andreas Andreas Schwab, rapporteur of the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, said.

Anu Bradford (Anu Bradford), director of the Center for European Law Studies at Columbia University, calls the EU's legislative impact the "The Brussels Effect". Because the European Union is one of the largest consumer markets in the world, most multinational corporations cannot ignore it, let alone give up. This gives the EU the strength to regulate.

In addition, European legal rules often provide a framework and samples for global regulation. For example, GDPR, known as the strictest data Protection Act in history, has become a legal model for countries such as Japan and Brazil.

Looking at the whole world, the anti-monopoly supervision of large-scale online platform enterprises has attracted the attention of many countries and become an irresistible trend of governance and international consensus.Data, algorithms and platforms, which are high-frequency words in the field of digital economy, have become the focus of expansion under the legal framework.

In China, the Anti-monopoly Law, which has been implemented since 2008, is in the stage of revision for the first time.

A new article 10 has been added to the published draft amendment, which stipulates that "operators shall not abuse data and algorithms, technology, capital advantages and platform rules to exclude or restrict competition."

The draft also adds a paragraph to Article 22: "where business operators with a dominant market position use data and algorithms, technologies and platform rules to impose unreasonable restrictions on other business operators, it belongs to the act of abusing the dominant market position as stipulated in the preceding paragraph. "

In November last year, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration published the Guide to the Classification and Classification of Internet platforms (draft for soliciting opinions) and the Guide to the responsibility of the implementation of Internet platforms (draft for soliciting opinions).Considering the scale of users, types of business and limited capabilities, the Internet platform is divided into three levels: Super platform, large-scale platform and small and medium-sized platform.

According to the regulations, the super platform needs to fulfill the corresponding subject responsibilities, for example, when providing related products or services.Do not implement self-preferential treatmentPromote the relationship between the services provided by yourself and those provided by other platformsInteroperability.

Life has not been easy for Silicon Valley giants to return to the United States, and the Biden administration has taken practical action and has shown no mercy to them.

Last year, Biden appointed Lina Khan, Amazon.Com Inc's leading critic, as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and appointed Jonathan Kanter, an antitrust lawyer known as the "old enemy of Silicon Valley", as head of the antitrust division of the Justice Department.

History in different stages of development, staged a variety of changes and unchanged. Back at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, something similar happened in the New World.

According to 400 years of America, Roosevelt Sr. delivered a speech after entering the White House: "many Americans believe that large companies called trusts are harmful to public well-being in certain functions and tendencies. This view is not caused by jealousy. They believe from the bottom of their heart that although the merger and concentration of enterprises should not be prohibited, they should be subject to supervision and reasonable control. "

In Roosevelt's view, this view was correct. At that time, the "trust" was mainly concentrated in steel, automobile, oil and other industries.

More than 200 years later, with the transfer of wealth and resources, the focus of the global antitrust narrative has become science and technology and the Internet, the new civilized force of mankind.