Amazon Wants To Evade EU Digital Rules in The Court

Amazon does not see itself as a very large online platform and accordingly refuses to comply with the EU’s newly created rules for such companies. The group now wants to fight for this at the Court of the European Union.

The dispute is heating up over the new Digital Services Act (DSA). This sets new requirements for the moderation of content, transparency rules, and the protection of minors. However, these do not apply to smaller offers but are aimed exclusively at the large platform operators, who dominate large parts of the activities on the Internet.

“We agree with the aim of the EU Commission and are committed to protecting customers from illegal products and content,” said the retail group. “But Amazon does not fit the description of a ‘very large online platform’ (VLOP) under the DSA and should not be classified as such,” the company said in a statement sent to colleagues at Ars Technica.

Amazon considers itself small

According to Amazon’s interpretation, the body of legislation revolves around companies whose main source of income is advertising and which spread language and information. However, one sees oneself primarily as a company that is primarily active in the retail sector and therefore has nothing to do with the industry mentioned. It is therefore “unfair” if Amazon is treated according to the same standards as, for example, Facebook.

In addition, it was explained that one was not even the largest retailer in the EU countries. Who is considered to be even larger here was not explained in more detail. On the part of the Bloomberg news agency, however, it seems to be about the companies Bol.com (Netherlands) and Allegro (Poland), which also have many users. These must therefore also be treated according to the DSA rules, which is not the case. However, it is questionable whether these companies can even get close to Amazon.

The EU Commission was somewhat surprised by Amazon’s self-assessment. “The scope of the DSA is very clear and defined to cover any platform that exposes its users to content, including the sale of any product or service,” it said in a statement.