The European Parliament is currently considering the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which would reclassify certain technology companies as “gatekeepers” and place additional regulations in an effort to increase competition. In a new primer, AAF’s Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jennifer Huddleston provides an overview of the DMA and examines its potential impact on consumers and companies. The DMA would target U.S.-based technology companies, Huddleston contends, and it would diminish choices and benefits for consumers as well as limit innovation.

Her central points:

• The European Union (EU)’s DMA would classify certain tech companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon as “gatekeepers” and subject them to additional regulations in an effort to enable increased competition in these markets;
• By focusing on competitors’ experience and welfare rather than the impact of competition on consumers, the DMA would likely diminish the benefits to consumers by eliminating choices in the market and potentially raising costs of certain products; and
• The DMA, along with other recent EU regulatory proposals including the Digital Services Act and Digital Services Taxes, is part of an increasing protectionist policy on the part of European regulators that appears intentionally designed to punish U.S.-based tech companies.

Read the primer.