MEPs expand Digital Markets Act to control tech giants

The draft rules now cover more companies, including China's Alibaba, and new activities

Members of the European Parliament have voted to strengthen draft rules aimed at regulating tech giants, extending the scope of last year's Digital Markets Act (DMA) to include new activities and business users outside Europe.

The EU announced the DMA exactly one year ago, at the same time as the UK unveiled its Online Harms Bill. The Act sets out a list of acceptable and unacceptable practices that companies - specifically US tech giants named in the legislation - must follow.

While the existing Act covers Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple, MEPs now want to add China's Alibaba, Booking.com and German online retailer Zalando - as rumoured earlier this year. Reports also say that cloud providers like Oracle could fall under the Act in the future.

The lawmakers also want the European Commission to present an annual report on these companies, known as gatekeepers, with the potential to propose investigations into new products and services.

The DMA currently covers online intermediation services, social networks, search engines, operating systems, online advertising services, cloud computing and video-sharing services. MEPs want to extend it to cover retailing activities, as well as applying the rules to web browsers, virtual assistants and connected TV.

Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, supports the proposals.

"It sends a clear message that in our EU democracy it is not for BigTech to set the rules of the game, it is for legislators," she tweeted.

However, the DMA is still merely a proposal for now. Lawmakers will have to negotiate the Act with member states and the European Commission next year before it can become law.