The UK government is set to introduce legislation within days to establish a new regulator to check the growing dominance of big tech platforms, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.
The bill will place the Digital Markets Unit within the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s main competition watchdog, on a statutory basis and give it regulatory powers to specifically target so-called Big Tech companies, according to people familiar with the plans.
The UK first pledged to set up a watchdog to deal with the growing power of Big Tech three years ago, but has so far failed to legislate, despite setting up the digital markets unit in 2021.
According to details of the legislation, known as the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, seen by the Financial Times, the new regulator will target a small number of tech companies generating at least £25bn. sterling in global turnover, or £1 billion in the UK. , with appropriate rules.
Only companies with established power in at least one digital market will be targeted and anyone found breaking the rules could face fines of up to 10% of global turnover under the new regime. first sketched in 2020.
Two officials told the FT the legislation would be released the week of April 24. The government declined to comment on the exact timing, but confirmed the bill would soon be presented to parliament.
The rules will also require each company to appoint a senior official responsible for ensuring compliance with the new regime. The regulator will also be able to fine directors if a company does not comply with its requests for information.
Any appeal against the decisions of the regulatory body should follow the normal procedure for challenging a CMA decision by seeking judicial review. This requirement is likely to frustrate large tech companies that have been calling for a lower burden of proof to adjudicate disputes.
The bill will end a period of uncertainty for the Digital Markets Unit, which was created two years ago with no powers beyond the CMA’s existing arsenal. It has 70 employees.
The UK was initially at the forefront of a global push to challenge the dominance of the biggest tech groups. But the government shelved plans to legislate last year.
Meanwhile, other jurisdictions, including the EU, have forged ahead. Brussels last year promulgated new rules to regulate Big Tech.
Tom Smith, antitrust partner at law firm Geradin Partners, said: “If successfully implemented, this new regime would remove some of the artificial restrictions imposed by Big Tech platforms and therefore allow more tech companies to grow, but there’s a lot of work to be done to make sure the new rules get there.
He said the bill “does not seek to impede Big Tech companies’ innovation, but to ensure that other companies can also thrive in the modern economy where access to their customers is controlled by large operators of app stores, search engines and e-commerce platforms.”.
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