Amazon sues EU for calling it a ‘Very Large Online Platform’

Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ on-line retail behemoth that registered over 300 million lively customers and raked over $500bn final yr, says it doesn’t match the EU’s definition of a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP). 

The Silicon Valley agency is so adamant it isn’t a VLOP, it is suing the EU over the matter, making it the primary (and doubtless not the final) US firm to problem the bloc’s new digital content material guidelines.  

Amazon was among the many first of 18 firms to be designated a VLOP in late April underneath the EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA), designed to curb hate speech and disinformation on-line. A VLOP designation requires firms to do extra to sort out unlawful on-line content material, undertake threat administration, conduct exterior and impartial auditing, and share knowledge with authorities and researchers. 

All platforms that attain no less than 45 million month-to-month lively customers are required to adjust to the complete obligations of the DSA, which comes into pressure on August 25. Facebook, Twitter, Apple’s App Store, Google Play, YouTube, and German retailer Zalando are all included, amongst others.  

According to Amazon, the DSA was designed to handle systemic dangers posed by very giant firms that distribute speech and knowledge and depend on promoting as their main income. “Amazon doesn’t fit this description of a ‘very large online platform’ under the DSA and should not be designated as such,” it mentioned. The retail large mentioned its addition to the EU’s naughty listing means it can be “unfairly singled out and forced to meet onerous administrative obligations that do not benefit EU consumers.” 

Last month, Germany’s Zalando, Europe’s largest on-line retailer, grew to become the primary firm to begin a lawsuit over the designation. The firm claimed its lively European person base figures aren’t substantial sufficient for it to be thought-about a VLOP. It has lengthy been anticipated that Silicon Valley teams would additionally problem the foundations. 

“The scope of the DSA is very clear and is defined to cover all platforms that expose their users to content, including the sale of products or services, which can be illegal,” the European Commission mentioned in a assertion reported by the Financial Times. “For marketplaces as for social networks, very wide user reach increases the risks and the platforms’ responsibilities to address them.”

Amazon has opened the go well with on the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe’s second highest. The Commission mentioned it is “ready to defend its position”.

Published July 12, 2023 – 9:28 am UTC

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