Today, the European Parliament welcomes a high-level conference on “Shaping [the] digital future” which will try to come up to all the problems posed by the digital evolution.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is only the latest in a long line of affairs which have highlighted the urgent need for measures to regulate digital platforms as President Tajani said. Every day, it is 250 million people that uses the internet and Europe has the duty to protect not only those who use it but also those affected by although they do not use it. As recently revealed, more than 99% of EU citizens came across fake news and 83% of people in Europe regard fake news as a threat to democracy. Therefore, the EU adopted yesterday a package of measures to combat fake news, improve data management, boost the development of artificial intelligence and guarantee the lawfulness and transparency of online services.
In a joint declaration on the legislative priorities for 2018 and 2019, the Commission, the Parliament, and the Council made the digital single market as a priority. It consists in breaking down the heterogeneous regulatory barriers and merging the 28 national markets into a single market. This could generate 415 billion euros for our economy and create thousands of jobs. Among the challenges, a fairer taxation of the GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) is needed. They could not be allowed “to usurp the powers of the State, levying fees and duties without paying taxes themselves”. It impoverishes everybody and forces countries to impose punitive taxes on businesses and labour.
Finally, there is no doubts that the digital revolution will bring many benefits, apart from improving industrial productivity, connectivity, transport and power grids, it will also give ordinary people a better quality of life. It is important that these evolutions come up with rules to guarantee a high level of protection of personal data and of the digital rights of people.
Jean-Hugues Migeon
For further information
EP Website – President Tajani introductory speech : http://www.europarl.europa.eu/the-president/en/newsroom/high-level-conference-on-%E2%80%98shaping-our-digital-future-the-challenge-of-the-digital-revolution%E2%80%99
EC Webiste – Shaping the Digital Single Market : https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/shaping-digital-single-market
EP Website – Livestream of the Conference “Shaping our digital future” : http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/schedule/#25042018
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