The European Union will keep enforcing its tech regulations across the bloc despite threats from US President Donald Trump, according to Henna Virkkunen, vice-president of the European Commission.
The rules protect rights including freedom of expression, she posted on X on September 1, adding: “I will keep enforcing them, for our kids, citizens and businesses.”
Brussels has already asserted its “sovereign right” to regulate the activities of tech giants wanting access to the European Union’s 450 million well-off consumers.
Its two main pieces of legislation – the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – aim to keep harmful content off the internet and ensure fair competition.
But Trump, who has shaken up global trade by imposing tariffs on the US’ trading partners, has threatened to add levies on those he accuses of targeting US tech companies.
Virkkunen posted a link to a letter addressed to US Congress reiterating that the DSA and DMA were EU legislation with “no extraterritorial jurisdiction in the US or any other EU country”.
She countered claims that the EU rules amounted to “censorship” – made by the US State Department and detractors such as Facebook owner Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg – by stressing that the DSA upheld freedom of expression.
Its focus was to protect consumers, including against scams and fraud, “but also on defending our democracies and deliberate manipulation campaigns aimed at undermining free and fair elections”, Virkkunen said.
She also objected to Congress inviting her predecessor in the previous European Commission, Thierry Breton, to appear before US lawmakers.
Breton declined the invitation in late August.
The EU’s latest move came as Apple said on September 1 it would update software on iPhone 12 handsets across the bloc to lower the power of their radio transmitters, after Brussels confirmed the device does not meet health standards.
The software update, scheduled “in the coming weeks” across the EU, is in line with a 2023 change made to the phones in France based on testing by its National Frequency Agency (ANFR) radio frequency authority.
“We continue to disagree with the French ANFR’s testing approach [but] respect the European Commission’s decision,” Apple said in a statement.
“Customers can use their iPhone 12 with full confidence, just as they always have”.
The ANFR ordered iPhone 12 sales halted in September 2023 over excessive electromagnetic emissions absorbed by the human body when the device is held in the hand.
Apple quickly released an update to correct the effect but applied it only in France.
The European Commission confirmed the ANFR’s findings and subsequent steps in an August 19 decision published on September 1 in its Official Journal, calling them “justified”.
