European Approaches to the Regulation of Digital Technologies

Following years of a liberal approach to digital technologies, platforms, services, and markets, the EU has stepped up its action in recent years. The adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), OJ L 119, 1) in 2016 can be seen as a starting point for new regulations that are now enacted and proposed under the European Commission’s strategy “A Europe fit for the digital age.” This article will briefly summarize the contents of the GDPR as well as the Digital Services Act (DSA) (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act), OJ L 277, 1), Digital Markets Act (DMA) (Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Digital Markets Act), OJ L 265, 1), Data Governance Act (DGA) (Regulation (EU) 2022/868 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on European data governance and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (Data Governance Act), OJ L 152, 1), and the proposals for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) (Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts, 21 April 2021, COM(2021) 206 final.) as well as the Data Act (Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonized rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act), 23 February 2022, COM(2022) 68 final.). We identify the underpinnings of the normative approach and its potential and shortcomings, thus providing an assessment of the role of Europe as a technology regulator more broadly and its relationship to digital humanism.