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A law against Big Tech - with side effects?

What was intended as a milestone for fair competition is causing alarm at Google: the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the new EU law to regulate digital platforms, is causing "significant and unintended harm" according to the US company - not only to tech giants, but also to small businesses and European consumers.

After Apple, Google is now also publicly sounding the alarm. Oliver Bethell, responsible for antitrust issues at Google, makes it clear that the law does more harm than good to the free market. According to Google, the European tourism industry is particularly affected - a politically explosive example.

Tourism industry under pressure - thanks to DMA?

What sounds technical at first glance has very practical consequences: The DMA forces Google to remove direct links to airlines and hotels from its search results. Instead, intermediary platforms must be displayed - often more expensive, less direct and burdened with commissions.

According to Google, traffic to hotel and airline websites has already fallen by up to 30 percent. This means fewer direct bookings, less revenue for providers and higher prices for customers.

An EU law that was supposed to protect consumers is making travel more expensive and slowing down local providers? That was probably not the original plan.

Security gaps and a brake on innovation?

Google goes even further: the DMA forces Android to disable protection mechanisms, such as sideloading. This opens the door to malicious apps and fraudulent links, the company warns.

Google also complains that the new rules are massively delaying the development and introduction of new AI functions. Products that have long been available in the USA are sometimes launched on the European market up to a year late. This also means that an innovative edge is lost - to the detriment of users and start-ups.

EU under pressure: Is Brussels regulating too much?

Google has already made many adjustments to comply with the DMA - for example when transferring data or selecting apps and search engines. However, according to Bethell, overlapping regulations, special national rules and ongoing legal proceedings are causing regulatory chaos.

The Group demands: Less politics, more practice. The rules must be "user-oriented, fact-based and consistent". In short: a technical "reset" is needed.

But not everyone sees it that way. Consumer advocates and European cloud providers are defending the DMA. The organization Beuc praises the fact that the DMA is already providing more freedom of choice for apps, browsers and payment services - which is entirely in the interests of consumers. The cloud association Cispe is even calling for the law to be extended to include large US hyperscalers, for example.

Urgent update required!

Google complaining about regulation is about as surprising as an advertising pop-up on a free app. But when even European SMEs start to falter because a law produces more ideology than reality, things get serious. Of course: Big Tech needs to be tamed. But you can hit the wrong people with a sledgehammer. The DMA doesn't need to back down - but it urgently needs an update. More precision, less bureaucracy. Otherwise, "fair competition" will quickly turn into "digital chaos made in Brussels".