Sending messages from a single app via WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and Facebook Messenger: it still sounds somewhat unreal, but may soon be possible. In fact, the European Union is working on a legislative proposal that would mandate interoperability between online platforms.
Interoperability involves different online platforms integrating their chat services and other features. Platforms then not only offer their own services, but also make it possible to use them together with the services of other platforms (1). The EU wants to mandate interoperability from major tech companies as a key part of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a European Commission bill (2).
Interoperability between different platforms can make Internet users less dependent on big players such as Facebook and Google (2). They are called gatekeepers in the DMA: companies that necessarily need consumers to use certain services. Already, some users want to switch out to other platforms, but that is not always easy. If users of different services are connected in the future, that will make switching easier. And so that is good news for consumers.
For example, about messaging service WhatsApp concerns that data is being shared with parent company Facebook. Alternatives to Whatsapp are Signal and Telegram. These are independent platforms with options for strong encryption of messages. So far, switching to these services still means that it is not possible to communicate with users of other services, but the EU wants to change that with the DMA. The new law should make the big players in the digital world less omnipotent.
Experts also see interoperability as a solution to the issue of gatekeeper power around content moderation (3). To date, the major players themselves determine which content they make available to Internet users and which they remove. When different platforms are integrated, that power lies at a lower level. For example, with users themselves.
An example of this form of regulation can already be found in platforms that operate through the open source software Mastodon (4). In these platforms, user communities make their own policies around content moderation. In doing so, they can use existing Web standards.
Interoperability between the major online platforms and other owners' innovative platforms has been absent to date. Facebook is reportedly already working on making its own services WhatsApp and Messenger interoperable. But that only increases the platform's monopoly position and thus goes against the very purpose of the DMA. This is what the German Justice Minister warned about back in 2019, for example (5).
Together with the Digital Service Act (DSA), the DMA forms the Digital Service Package. That package should better protect the fundamental rights of digital service users and promote innovation, growth and competitiveness of digital services. The new bill is now in the negotiation phase (6).
Meanwhile, there are still many uncertainties about the bill. For example, it is not yet known how authorities will monitor whether the big platforms will comply with the new rules (7). Small businesses and startups are also still wondering what the new law will mean for them, as it has not yet been delineated who will be gatekeepers.
(1) https://ddma.nl/actueel/wat-betekenen-de-digital-services-act-de-digital-markets-act-voor-data-marketing/
(2) https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/eu-werkt-aan-wetgeving-tegen-big-tech/
(3) https://vimeo.com/533541183
(4) https://publicspaces.net/2021/07/28/interoperabiliteit-en-federatie-voor-een-eerlijker-en-diverser-internet/
(5) https://tweakers.net/nieuws/148614/duitsland-combineren-messenger-whatsapp-en-instagram-leidt-tot-monopolie.html
(6) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/nl/press-room/20211210IPR19211/wet-inzake-digitale-markten-parlement-klaar-om-met-raad-te-onderhandelen
(7) https://nos.nl/artikel/2413395-eu-richt-met-nieuwe-wetgeving-pijlen-op-hart-van-big-tech
(8) https://www.dutchstartupassociation.nl/dutch_startup_association_nldigital_worry_about_unintended_effects_of_the_digital_markets_act_on_dutch_star
