ENPA says that the proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA) “risks creating an information monopoly of the gatekeeper platforms”.

Media pluralism and the editorial diversity of newspapers and magazines are a precondition for an independent and pluralistic formation of opinion in the EU, ENPA says. Ensuring accessibility and visibility for the full diversity of editorial offerings is “absolutely necessary”.

ENPA says that the DMA is a historic, and potentially the only, chance for the EU to address market imbalances caused by the gatekeeper platforms and to ensure fair and non-discriminatory distribution of the free press and media. However, it says, the current draft DMA falls short on some of the key provisions. ENPA highlights the following:

• non-discriminatory and fair access conditions must not be limited to two app stores, but must be extended to all “core-platform services”, in particular to the search engine monopoly and social network monopoly;
• an obligation for gatekeepers to participate in binding procedures to set a fair price for services, such as licensing the publisher’s right, needs to be included;
• the DMA must comprehensively and effectively prohibit not only self-preferencing, but also giving preferential treatment to selected third parties;
• gatekeepers must not be allowed to discriminate against relevance-based intermediation in favour of paid intermediation;
• web browsers must be included in the scope of the DMA; and
• the prohibition on combining data from different services must apply regardless of consent of the user.

ENPA says that if these shortcomings are not addressed in the legislative process by both European Governments and the European Parliament, this important regulation “risks becoming a toothless tiger which in some instances would even legitimize the unjustifiable behaviours of the gatekeepers”. To read ENPA’s press release in full and for a link to ENPA’s full position paper, click here.