The CODE believes digital openness can be achieved through the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and in future EU regulatory framework developments.
Alphabet’s Google, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm and seven other tech companies have collaborated to form the Coalition for Digital Ecosystem (CODE) to push for open digital ecosystems, on Wednesday. This came in response to new European Union tech rules that may also be the foundation for possible future legislation.
The Coalition’s goal is to open up digital ecosystems through cross-industry collaboration and promote seamless connectivity and interoperable systems. It aims to promote more open platforms and systems to boost growth and innovation in Europe.
The group intends to work with academics, policymakers and companies on digital openness and how this can be achieved in Europe. The CODE believes that this could be done through the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and in future EU regulatory framework developments.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a stringent piece of legislation that targets the dominance of top technology companies in the market. It establishes a set of clearly defined objective criteria to identify gatekeepers, which are large digital platforms providing core platform services, such as online search engines, app stores, messenger services. Gatekeepers will have to comply with the do’s and don’ts listed in the DMA.
The gatekeepers, controlling access to their platforms, must enable third-party services to inter-operate with their own. They are required to allow their business users the ability to advertise their products and finalise contracts with their customers independently of the gatekeeper’s platform. DMA complements the EU competition rules.
The EU Commission has designated 22 services offered by the gatekeepers of online services. This categorisation mandates for these companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance (owner of TikTok), to ensure interoperability of their messaging apps with competitors.
Chinese smart devices maker Honor, China’s Lenovo French augmented reality start-up Lynx, U.S. telecoms equipment maker Motorola, UK electronics maker Nothing, Norwegian tech company Opera and German messaging services provider Wire are the other members of the coalition.
“We have had a number of conversations in the past few months about what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to digital ecosystems in Europe, what fosters innovation, and what will positively impact competitiveness. We think openness is the crucial element,” said Lynx founder Stan Larroque.
