Realising Europe's Digital Decade

Empowering users online and setting a global benchmark with the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act

Very Large Online Platforms or Search Engines reaching more than 45 million users monthly are subject to more stringent rules. This is the case for 25 designated services. These stronger provisions include:

• allowing users to opt out from profiling for the content they see
• publishing repositories of all ads on their interface, including who promoted them
• stopping targeted advertisement based on sensitive personal data, and towards children
• giving researchers access to data.

Such designated services also need to provide annual risk assessments to examine how their services might pose a risk to fundamental rights, civic discourse, and public health, amongst others; and they will need to adopt reasonable and effective mitigation measures to the identified systemic risks. The risk assessments and the mitigation plans are subject to independent audit and oversight.

The Digital Services Act is showing its impact: big platforms have taken steps to better protect minors, offering choices regarding their recommender systems, and labelling and providing access to ads. The first test case for the Digital Services Act was the illegal and harmful content disseminated in the context of Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel, where the Commission opened formal proceedings against X. Since then, the Commission has started formal proceedings against TikTok, AliExpress, and Meta. In August 2024, the Commission closed its first proceeding under the DSA following TikTok’s commitment to permanently withdraw its Lite Rewards programme from the EU.

With the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU has set a global milestone to regulate the economic power of digital “gatekeepers”. These are some of the largest digital global companies that take a particularly important place in the internal market because of their size and their role as gateways for business users to reach their customers.

The Digital Markets Act will create an opportunity for businesses to challenge gatekeepers by ensuring fair, open, and contestable digital markets. The new rules:

• increase legal certainty for businesses and platforms
• empower SMEs and start-ups
• ensure consumers benefit from quality services and more transparency. 

For example:

• gatekeepers can no longer engage in self-preferencing on their platforms
• users can delete preinstalled software from their devices and can download apps from alternative app stores
• businesses can get free access to ad data and can agree contracts outside of a gatekeeper platform
• developers can use alternative payment or identification systems.

Since March 2024, the six designated gatekeepers need to ensure full compliance with the obligations of the DMA. The Commission has already opened investigations for non-compliance against Alphabet, Apple, and Meta. In May 2024, the Commission also designated Booking (parent company of Booking.com) as a gatekeeper.

Harnessing the opportunities of Artificial Intelligence through the world’s first regulatory framework 

We have set a goal of investing more than €1 billion per year in AI research and innovation, with the objective to attract more investment in AI per year over this decade. That goal was largely surpassed in 2022, when more than €3 billion of EU funding were mobilised.

To develop AI models, access to supercomputers is crucial: this reduces training time for algorithms from months or years, to just weeks. The EU currently has three world-class supercomputers (based in Finland, Italy, and Spain) and we are granting access for European AI start-ups, SMEs and the broader AI community.

In June 2024 the Commission unveiled the AI Office, established within the Commission. The AI Office will play a key role in the implementation of the AI Act, especially in relation to general-purpose AI models. It will also work to foster research and innovation in trustworthy AI and position the EU as a leader in international discussions. The AI Office is already working with stakeholders to prepare a General-Purpose AI Code of Practice.

Giving Europeans a safe and secure digital identity 

The Digital Identity Wallet will allow all Europeans to have a secure digital identity that protects personal data and works in all Member States from the end of 2026. The wallet will offer a user-friendly public alternative to online identification, fully respect the choice of the user to share or not personal data and offer the highest degree of security. Very Large Online Platforms designated under the Digital Services Act will need to accept it to authenticate users. 

Tapping the economic potential of data in a secure way 

Data is the building block for many new products and services. Access to an ever-growing quantity of data and the ability to use it are essential for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, and job creation. 

The Data Governance Act, in full application since September 2023, lays down requirements to increase trust in data intermediaries and strengthens data-sharing mechanisms. It enables the creation of common European data spaces in key sectors, including health and mobility, that facilitate the pooling and sharing of data in a controlled and secure way. 

The Data Act, which will apply from September 2025, creates the processes and structures to facilitate data sharing by companies, individuals, and the public sector. It will boost the EU's data economy by unlocking industrial data and foster a competitive and reliable European cloud market through easier switching and fair contract terms. The new rules could contribute an additional €270 billion to our GDP by 2028 thanks to the tackling of legal, economic and technical challenges that currently lead to data under-utilisation.

Increasing our independence in semiconductors with the European Chips Act

Shortages of semiconductors have highlighted Europe's dependency on a limited number of non-EU suppliers. The European Chips Act, which entered into force in September 2023, strengthens Europe’s competitiveness and resilience by boosting manufacturing, stimulating the European design ecosystem, and supporting scale-up and innovation across the value chain. Through the Chips Act, the European Union aims to double its share in the semiconductors global market to 20% by 2030.

It has already triggered public and private investment plans worth over €80 billion.

Additionally, under State aid rules, the Commission has already approved French and Italian measures supporting the construction of first-of-a-kind microchips manufacturing facilities in Crolles and Catania. The approved aid amounts to almost €3.2 billion, and the overall investment is worth more than €8 billion. More of such projects are in the pipeline.

The Commission also approved an Important Project of Common European Interest to support research, innovation and the first industrial deployment of microelectronics and communication technologies throughout the value chain. The €8.1 billion in public support provided by Member States is expected to unlock an additional €13.7 billion in private investment. 

Improving Europeans’ digital skills and the access of new technologies by business to realise our Digital Decade 

Under the Digital Decade Policy Programme, we track performance in four areas: citizens' digital skills; take-up of new technologies by businesses like AI, data and cloud; advancing the EU's connectivity, computing and data infrastructures; and making public services and administration available online.

Concrete targets to be achieved by 2030 include: 80% of those aged 16-74 have at least basic digital skills, providing gigabit network to all end users, doubling the number of EU unicorn companies, and ensuring that 100% of Union citizens have access to their electronic health records.

The Commission has also put in place initiatives to support the increase of information and communication technology (ICT) graduates and to provide new skills to individuals employed in digital areas, such as the Cybersecurity Skills Academy and the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.

Furthermore, there are currently over 200 European Digital Innovation Hubs, covering all EU regions. European Digital Innovation Hubs are one-stop shops supporting companies and public sector organisations to respond to digital challenges and become more competitive. Meanwhile, regarding connectivity infrastructure, 81% of the EU population have access to 5G, and 56% of all households are covered by fibre cables.

Achievements in other areas