Is Samsung a Big Tech Platform?..."EU Digital Law Cannot Become a Global Standard"

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"The European Union (EU) digital law aimed at protecting domestic companies from the offensive of American big tech (large information technology companies) cannot become a global standard."

This claim was made at the 'International Seminar on Online Platform Regulation Trends' held on the 10th by the Korea Internet Corporations Association at the COEX conference room.

Major foreign countries attending the seminar emphasized caution regarding platform industry regulation. A representative platform industry regulation is the EU's 'Digital Markets Act (DMA).' This legislation designates a few large platform operators who trap users through market dominance as 'gatekeepers' and applies regulations to them. Domestically, the Korea Fair Trade Commission is promoting the 'Online Platform Fairness Act (Onple Act)' to regulate large platforms based on the DMA. Specific regulatory directions are expected to be announced within this month.

The Korea Internet Corporations Association held the "International Seminar on Online Platform Regulation Trends" on the 10th at the COEX Conference Room.
[Photo source=YouTube capture]

The DMA is a law reflecting Europe's unique characteristics. In Europe, there are no platform companies with market dominance like Google, Apple, or Meta. It is analyzed that in this situation, platform regulations are being issued to protect domestic companies. Professor Joseph Colangelo of Basilicata University in Italy cited Samsung Electronics as an example, saying, "Because gatekeepers are defined mainly by quantitative criteria such as company size, unexpected results sometimes occur." Samsung Electronics' app market share is only 1-2%. However, the EU considers that if a company operates in more than three European countries and generates annual sales exceeding 7.5 billion euros, it meets the gatekeeper criteria. Although the platform business portion is minimal, the application of regulations is judged based on company size. Professor Colangelo pointed out, "There are some conflicting parts between German or Italian competition laws and the DMA, causing confusion among operators," and questioned, "Even within the EU, the DMA, which is not a standard, can become a global standard."

In the United States, there have been moves to introduce regulations similar to the DMA, but the likelihood of realization is low. This is because concerns have been raised that simply regulating companies because of their size could cause significant side effects. Professor Christopher Yoo of the University of Pennsylvania pointed out, "If companies consider the possibility of being sued under competition law when conducting business, the cost of providing services will increase," adding, "This will result in reduced corporate innovation and consumer welfare."

Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation in the United States, also emphasized that regulations like the DMA could rather restrict competition. For example, payment services by platform operators such as Apple Pay lower fees and expand consumer choice. However, the EU judged Apple to have violated antitrust laws by favoring its own payment methods and blocking competing services. In this case, Atkinson argued that platform operators would be reluctant to compete with financial institutions. Atkinson said, "Europe is leading digital regulation with AI laws and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but except for Spotify, there are no competitive players," pointing out the side effects caused by competition restrictions.

There was also an argument that the differences between Europe and domestic situations should be considered. It is difficult to apply European regulations in a situation where domestic platforms compete with big tech. Professor Kim Seong-hwan of the Department of Economics at Ajou University said, "Naver is number one in the search market, but compared to Google and YouTube, it is either on par or lagging," and added, "The DMA should not be applied to South Korea, where the competitive situation is different."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.