EU countries, lawmakers clinch deal on new online content rules

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBRUSSELS Reuters – European Union countries and EU lawmakers on Friday clinched a deal on new rules requiring tech giants to do more to police content on their platforms and to pay a fee to regulators monitoring their compliance.

pThe agreement came after more than 16 hours of negotiations. The Digital Services Act DSA is the second prong of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestagers strategy to rein in the power of Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other U.S. tech giants.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

“We have a deal on the DSA: The Digital Services Act will make sure that what is illegal offline is also seen and dealt with as illegal online – not as a slogan, as reality,” Vestager said in a tweet.

pUnder the DSA, the companies face fines up to 6 of their global turnover for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.p

pThe 27country bloc and lawmakers last month backed Vestagers landmark rules called the Digital Markets Act DMA that could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe.

pp Reporting by Foo Yun Cheep

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