The European Union (EU) has recently decided to impose strict management rules on 19 online platforms with large user bases, including Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Accordingly, the 19 platforms will be subject to control measures such as annual audits, and the inspection ofperformance regardingobligations to effectively deal with fake news and hateful contents.
With the above move, Europe has been strengthening its management role with technology companies to provide a safe and clean environment for network users.
Since the beginning of the year, many technology “giants” have receivedwarningsfrom the governments of many countries and faced legal troubles related to monopoly issues, fake news, and data leaks. The US Department of Justice sued Google for a monopoly on manipulating the online advertising market, opening a legal battle against this "giant". Meanwhile, technology group Meta was fined 390 million EUR for violating EU personal data laws on social networking platforms of Facebook and Instagram.
Amid more and more countries’ tightening of the strict measures and increasing pressure from the organisations protecting the rights of online users, Big Tech is forced to take actions to regain the trust of users.
Recently, Google expanded its campaign against online misinformation in Europe. Twitter reinstated the feature of recommending information resources to ensure the safety of users while searching for sensitive contents such as self-harm or suicide, after coming under pressure from public opinions due to its removal of this feature.
The good news for Big Tech right now is thatrevenue isbetter than the previous predictions. Technology companies passed through the year 2022 with many storms due to dismalrevenue, mainly due to the general difficult situation of the economy and the change of customers' network usage habits following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
In 2023, after laying off thousands of employees to save costs and focus on AI, Microsoft and Alphabet recorded better business results, but there were still many uncertainties. The share prices of these corporations have increased but still well below 2021 when advertising revenue skyrocketed. In the final quarter of 2022, Alphabet's advertising revenue via YouTube was 7.96 billion USD, lower than the 8.25 billion USD forecast by data firm StreetAccount. Meanwhile, Twitter's ad revenue is forecast to drop by 28% to 2.98 billion USD in 2023.
The race on AI is getting hotter asmany technology corporations consider this a strategic development direction. The game will require a lot of effort and money and will be not easy asthe business environment willnot be as favourable as today.Recently, 17 EU MPs sent an open letter calling on US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convene a summit to discuss measures to control the development of AI.
In the digital age, people tend to conduct more online activities, leading to countless potential risks from cyberspace. This reality requires the companies to tighten regulations and be responsible in developing their technology products to provide a healthy and safe network environment for users, while upholding the spirit of fair competition in the digital marketplace.
