Radical steps needed to save Europe’s democratic rule of law from Big Tech
image: Joshua Sortino via Unspash
In an op-ed and an interview in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’, Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at Leiden University and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University, stresses that Europe needs to take radical steps to tackle dominant tech companies.
Elon Musk and more recently also Mark Zuckerberg have openly expressed their support for Donald Trump and declared war on European laws and regulations. Such dominant companies, whose influence is inestimable, do not act in line with European directives in areas such as privacy, democracy, rule of law, disinformation taxation, environment, public order and the environment. Passchier says that these tech giants are operating as though they are states themselves, setting their own rules.
He argues that European countries are struggling when it comes to effectively regulating these tech giants. The companies operate in several countries and they can also influence and even pit these countries against each other. We need to monitor these companies strictly, says Passchier, with the common good taking precedence over private interests.
In addition, Passchier is in favour of denying these companies access to the European market when US and Chinese companies behave in a hostile and unreliable manner. This would also give the European tech sector a chance to develop fully, while ensuring the sovereignty of the European rule of law. He calls for ‘radical measures to protect Europe from the influence of big tech’.
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Volkskrant article (8 januari) (€)
Volkskrant article (11 januari) (€)