Tech Brief: EU pushes for common ICT standards with China, Slovak elections test DSA enforcement on disinformation

Tech Brief: EU pushes for common ICT standards with China, Slovak elections test DSA enforcement on disinformation

“EU companies told me they face many obstacles and legal uncertainties in China.”
– posted Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, the day of the EU-China Digital Dialogue in Beijing.

Story of the week: For the second high-level digital dialogue between the EU and China, Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová visited Vice-Premier of China Zhang Guoqing in Bejing. Agenda topics ranged from platforms and data regulation, AI research and innovation, and cross-border flows of industrial data to the safety of online products. One of the biggest concerns for the Commission is the standard setting for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), playing a critical role in economic power and potential strategic dependencies. By means of key positions in standards development organisations and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing aims to promote and secure its own technology standards. The EU is particularly concerned that China aims to facilitate state control by amending global internet governance, standards, and protocols in their favour. The bloc “would like to be more self-reliant and resilient and at the same time continue to cooperate with other international partners when it is desired and possible”, commented Dr Iryna Bogdanova, a postdoctoral researcher at the World Trade Institute, University of Berne. Read more.

Don’t miss: Next Saturday (30 September), Slovaks will vote for their next Members of Parliament. It will be the first general election of an EU member state since the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates illegal content online, including disinformation. Yet, according to Katarína Klingová, senior research fellow at GLOBSEC: “It is the domestic political actors who are the main perpetrators and the main spreaders of disinformation [in Slovakia]”. In this context, Euractiv looks at the Slovak context, especially at the responsibilities of political leaders and the content they share, the responsibilities of Big Tech in content moderation, the responsibilities of the EU Commission enforcing the DSA and the importance of digital literacy for citizens in disinformation mechanisms. Read more.

Also this week:

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AI-Lection or election? A study that asked German, French and UK citizens published this week demonstrates that more than half of citizens from these countries are concerned about the threat that AI and deepfake technology poses to elections. Some 71% of German citizens and 57% of French citizens are concerned about the threats AI and deep fake technology poses to elections.“Users are increasingly aware of negative actors and practices, such as the way cyber troops attempt to orchestrate defamation campaigns through organised networks of social bots and trolls, among other methods,” explained Daniel Barredo, a researcher on public opinion and media at the University of Málaga, Spain. The widespread adoption of AI further expands access to both content creation and dissemination, potentially amplifying the spread of disinformation, he warned. Read more.

Will China attend the UK’s AI Summit? The past weeks’ rumours were finally cleared up on Tuesday: the UK has invited China to its AI Summit, to be held on 1 and 2 November in London. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that the reason they invited the country is because it is not possible to keep “the UK public safe from the risks of AI if we exclude one of the leading nations in AI tech.” He also added that their approach towards China is “to protect our institutions and infrastructure, align with partners and engage where it is in the UK’s national interest.” Britain invited the Asian country despite the lack of support for this from the European Union, the United States, and Japan. However, when Euractiv reached out to the British Embassy of China, they did not confirm whether the country is planning to attend and said they had no information to provide.

Bard chatbot: Ready Steady Go! Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced that its Bard chatbot will be interoperable in its products, including Gmail, Google Maps, Docs and YouTube. In the race to dominate the AI market, Alphabet Inc. follows Microsoft, which announced back in March that it aims to integrate ChatGPT into its Office suite products. Bard chatbot should, according to the Big Tech firm, be equipped with a ‘double-check’-function to provide source material.

f-AI-r competition. To prevent big tech firms from dominating and concentrating on the AI industry, the British anti-trust regulator CMA published seven principles on transparency and accountability. The watchdog fears that otherwise, big tech firms are trying to bundle their products, which is considered anticompetitive conduct and would prevent the full economic benefits. The move comes before Britain will host its Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in November.

Generate ideas on generative AIs. After French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcements on AI at VivaTech, the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, announced the creation of the French Committee on Artificial Intelligence on Tuesday. This committee aims to support the French government’s position on AI and generative AI. They have six months to present concrete suggestions, including positions in the cultural, economic, technological and R&D industries. Members of the Committee include AI entrepreneurs, copyright experts, private actors from Google, Meta, French military consortium Dassault, experts and researchers on AI, a 2019-2022 French Digital Minister, Cédric O.

Define AI. With the EU institutions working to finalise the AI Act by the end of 2023, BSA | The Software Alliance, an advocate for the global software industry, published a position paper about promoting coordinated AI regulations addressing high-risk AI. The text said, for example, that it should be ensured that the definition of artificial intelligence is “in line with other global partners.” There should also be a definition for high-risk AI and its use.

Who to trust? The Big Tech firm is in a second attempt to challenge a ruling by the General Court dating back to 2021. Two years ago, the EU’s lower tribunal in Luxembourg ruled that Alphabet Inc. violated antitrust rules by showing preferential treatment to its own shopping service. Thereby, the General Court backed a decision of the EU Commission in 2017 and dismissed Google’s first appeal. The €2.4 billion fine now appears to leave the EU’s top court judges to decide who they should trust more, according to the EU’s legal team.

We need Chip nerds, go study. Germany realised it needed projects, money, and the next generation of students to become a global chip hub. Projects and money are now an issue of the past, thanks to a €4 billion EU funding. To train the next generation and foster talent in the semiconductor industry, the German state of Saxony is now collaborating with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The roll-out of the programme offered at TU Dresden will launch in the spring of next year, with 50 students leaving for Taiwan for a period of three months.

3D-printing Tech on the rise. A new study conducted by the European Patent Office (EPO) shows the sharp increase in patents in 3D printing over the last two decades. While the US is in the lead with 40% of all relevant patent applications in 3D printing between 2001 and 2020, Europe contributes 33%. Ranking third worldwide, Germany is the leading patent for 3D printing in Europe with 13.4%, followed by France 3.9% and the Netherlands 2.4%.

G-Z or 15? According to a keynote event where Apple unveiled the next iPhone, number 15, the mobile device will be equipped with a USB-C charger again. The move comes after three consecutive quarters of declining sales to allow customers to power their various Apple devices with the same charger. The 11-year period of using Apple’s own Lightning charging cable has thus come to an end.

Regulating influencers at the EU level? On Wednesday, BEUC, the European consumer organisation, published a survey concluding that “consumers are too often ill at ease, [and] feel insufficiently protected in the digital world”. BEUC, therefore, asked the European Commission to “create a right to be free of all online tracking” when revising its Consumer Law. They also suggest regulating influencer marketing at the EU level. In June, French Member of the European Parliament Stéphanie Yon-Courtin called for such a legislative proposal inspired by a recent French law.

CSA meets the ITRE Committee. The draft report on the Cyber Solidarity Act was presented on Tuesday in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) by Rapporteur Lina Gálvez Muñoz. “At a time when cybersecurity threats are linked to the spread of insecurity among the population, the European Cyber Solidarity Act is more urgent than ever,” the rapporteur told Euractiv. “ I will work during the Spanish Presidency to improve safeguards, including democratic ones, for Member States to cooperate on cybersecurity and to further advance the EU’s open strategic autonomy,” she added.

Cyber Solidarity, what does that mean? While rapporteur Lina Gálvez Muñoz highlights the need for cyber solidarity, others call it into question. “From the perspective of European integration, it is a rather modest framework, which facilitates cross-border cooperation, in contrast to the EU becoming a ‘digital sovereign’ itself,” Dr Oskar Josef Gstrein, appointed as Theme Coordinator for Data Autonomy at the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI of the University of Groningen told Euractiv. “I think the Cyber Solidarity Act (CSA) can be understood as a capacity-building exercise of the EU, which stands next to member states initiatives in this area,” he added. According to Dr Gstrein, the CSA has to be considered together with other comprehensive overhauls of the cybersecurity governance landscape, such as implementing the NIS2 directive, which must be fully implemented by 18 October 2024.

China caught in the crossfire. During her visit on behalf of the EU Commission in Beijing, Věra Jourová criticised China’s new anti-espionage law for lacking clarity for EU firms. The law was expanded back in July, now prohibiting the information transfer linked to Chinese national security and interests (leaving these terms undefined) and expanding the definition of espionage to cover cyberattacks targeting governmental bodies or critical infrastructure.

Lowering the radiation level. After last week, France’s radio frequency regulator said that the iPhone 12’s Specific Absorption Rate is above what is allowed, causing fears about electromagnetic radiation, Apple will update the new phone, said French Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. The French regulator has to check the phone again before it will be allowed back in the country, while Apple believes that the device is compliant with the rules.

Encryption in the age of surveillance. As encryption remains a topic that causes much controversy, next week, on Tuesday, the European Digital Rights Association (EDRi) is organising its event in Brussels, called “Encryption in the age of surveillance” with speakers including President of Signal Meredith Whittaker and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović.

The UK version of the US Data Framework is here. On Thursday, the United Kingdom announced a new agreement with the United States on opening up transatlantic data flows, which will come into force on 12 October. The UK’s Data Protection Regulation will also incorporate the EU-US Data Privacy Framework’s principles for certain parts of the file.

Elon Musk to win the Sakharov Freedom Prize? On Wednesday, political groups presented their nominated candidates for the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Contrary to the conservatives (EPP), the progressives (S&D) and the liberals (Renew), which nominated separately Zhina Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran, the Identity & Democracy Members of the European Parliament suggested Elon Musk, the famous entrepreneur, owner of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. Three candidates will be short-listed by the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Developments committees and then submitted to a vote by the Parliament’s President Metsola and political group leaders.

Twin Transition, is it feasible? ”Even though the European Green Deal emphasises the importance of digital research and innovation for the green transition of society, the digital transition is still underestimated as a driving force for realising the green transition, e.g. making Europe the first climate-neutral continent within 2050,” said Morten Dæhlen, Author of the Paper ”The Twin Transition Century” published by The GUILD. “Twinning the green and digital transition is an important step in this endeavour,” Dæhlen added.

EU money tap, only for Germany? While Germany this week presented its €4 billion EU-funded semiconductor projects, which account for 50% of the fund for a total of 14 member states, the fourth largest economy did not shy away from submitting a first payment request to the Commission for another fund: the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The payment request amounts to €3.97 billion to finance 28 milestones and eight targets, including electromobility, microelectronics and digitalisation reforms. It’s now the turn of the Commission to assess this payment request.

The choice is yours. A study by Mozilla was published on Thursday to understand how vendor choice screens affect users’ browser choices. Choice screens for browsers are mandated under the EU’s Digital Markets Act. According to the study, well-designed choice screens impact decision-making, and people have clear preferences for them. Other than the design, the choice screen’s content also matters regarding what users prefer. Mozilla also reports that generally, people like that they can choose their browsers.

France against digital Far West. French Members of Parliament voted on Thursday night (22 September) in a special commission on a bill this week to “regulate and secure the digital world”. Among the objectives: technical provisions for national implementation of the Digital Services Act, the Data Governance Act, provisions to impose age verification for pornographic websites, an “anti-digital fraud filter”, plus provisions to de-reference media sanctioned at the EU level. In her opening statement, socialist Member of Parliament and rapporteur Marietta Karamanli clearly states the DSA and DMA are asking her concerns that they will not be enough to regulate the current “digital Far West”? The French bill and its amendments are more far-reaching than the DSA. An amendment has been suggested by the rapporteur Paul Midy to link social media accounts with French national IDs, with the objective of stopping online anonymity and easing sanctions on perpetrators of cyber harassment. Looking at the other side of the coin, Member of Parliament Violette Spillebout suggested an amendment adopted to mandatorily educate young people during primary and secondary school, hence improving digital literacy, to solve current problems through education.

UK, ready to make the internet safer? The Online Safety Bill passed its final parliamentary debate on Tuesday and is set to become law in the United Kingdom. The UK’s Bill mirrors the EU’s Digital Services Act in its focus on moderating online content and platform responsibility, which has stirred up controversy. Similarly to another EU draft law, the regulation aiming to detect and prevent child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, encryption was one of the topics causing controversies.

A new Huawei phone coming in October. Huawei could launch a new phone in October, according to China’s IT Times. The new device would be a mid-range 5G phone, but the company has only been able to launch limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips ever since 2019 the US restricted Huawei’s access to chipmaking tools, which are essential for producing the more advanced models.

Chinese favour iPhone 15. Even though the Chinese government restricted iPhone 15, it did not stop Chinese customers from visiting Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai and purchasing the new version anyway.

The EU funds Germany’s Semiconductor goals. The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) published 31 projects to be financed by the EU funding programme for microelectronics. The microelectronics projects will be supported under the EU funding program “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) in a bid to attract more microchip manufacturers to Germany. Approved three months ago, the IPCEI distributes grants of up to €8.1 billion to projects focusing on microelectronics and communications technology from 14 EU member states, including Germany, which will receive about half of the funds – roughly €4 billion. Read more.

Do you want chips in your brain? Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink, which is developing implantable brain-computer interfaces, announced on Tuesday that they received approval to recruit for their “first-in-human clinical trial.” People with paralysis because of cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis can qualify for the trial. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a Wired investigation revealed that monkey test subjects died due to its brain implants, news that Musk denied earlier this month.

Encryption remains a touchy subject. Meta is getting ready to introduce end-to-end encryption to its services. However, just a day after the Online Safety Bill passed in the UK, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced that to detect online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), she is calling on Meta’s plans to “keep safeguards when rolling out end-to-end encryption on Facebook & Instagram so we can continue to bring predators to justice.” In a video, a survivor, Rhiannon-Faye McDonald, also addressed her concerns to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Your plans will let abusers hide in the dark,” she said.

Survivors speak out. A letter published on Monday by NSPCC, the UK’s leading children’s charity, and signed by 104 child sexual abuse survivors and civil society organisations across 24 countries is urging tech companies to protect children. They find that there are not enough safety considerations by tech companies and find that private messaging services and social media platforms undermine their safety and privacy rights.

Marching at the Parliament. Members of several child protection organisations, part of the European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group (ECLAG), together with survivors and advocates, marched in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, urging EU lawmakers to “clean up the internet” and to pass the CSAM regulation.

Say no. The association ChatkontrolleSTOPPEN! Calls on the German government to vote against the CSAM draft law in the EU Council. Germany has been perhaps the most critical of the regulation, viewing it as a data privacy breach due to the possible monitoring of private messages to find malicious content. Digitalcourage even referred to the file as “surveillance law.”

New geostrategic corridor. Media spreading pro-Russian disinformation in the Balkans often use advertising bought by reputable Western companies to reinforce their credibility, media experts concluded at a panel held in the European Parliament. Over six years, Serbian media generally reported negatively about the EU and positively about Russia and China, Raša Nedeljkov, program director of the Belgrade-based Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), a democracy-defending NGO. Read more.

Jourová warns against disinformation. During her visit to Beijing, China, for the EU-China High-Level Digital Dialogue, Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission Věra Jourová touched upon, among other things, the war in Ukraine. “I asked our Chinese partners for a stronger role in helping Ukraine to achieve just peace,” she wrote in a post on X, adding that this “also relates to cybersecurity and disinformation.”

Parliament favours Short-Term Rental regulation. On Tuesday, the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection voted favourably for the compromised text of the Short-Term Rental regulation that Euractiv analysed last week. The text and the mandate were accepted by 30+ votes in favour, one abstention and no vote casted against. Airbnb immediately welcomed the result of the vote. It is expected that the Parliament will confirm the committee decision at the 2-5 October plenary session without debates, which will then pave the way to interinstitutional negotiations, known as “trilogues” with the Commission and the Council, which adopted its position in March.

Can you be more transparent? The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined TikTok, under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for violating children’s privacy. The DPC found that the platform has not been transparent enough about its privacy settings with children. TikTok now has three months to comply with the GDPR’s rules.

Musk to charge for (former) Twitter. During a Monday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk said they are moving to have “a small monthly payment for use of the system,” meaning “a few dollars or something,” to prevent bots on the social media platform. However, he did not officially confirm whether users will have to pay a fee to use the site in the future.

Stop the hate. During the meeting between Musk and Netanyahu in California, the Prime Minister asked the Tesla CEO to fight against antisemitism on X. “I know your commitment to free speech,” Netanyahu told Musk. “But I also know your opposition to antisemitism.” Musk said he is “obviously” against antisemitism, adding that he opposes anything that “promotes hate and conflict.”

A Sign(al) of quantum resistance. On Tuesday, Signal updated its end-to-end encryption technology for private communications. With the upgrade, which is a first step in advancing quantum resistance, according to a blog post by Signal, the app adds another layer of protection against the possibility that a future quantum computer may be able to break encryption. Signal’s President Meredith Whittaker wrote on X that she is “thrilled & deeply proud” that Signal is the first “major messenger to deploy quantum resistance” in their end-to-end encryption protocol.

Microsoft over Apple? Microsoft’s shares have outperformed Apple’s this month, bringing Microsoft’s market value closer to Apple’s. Meanwhile, China also wants to expand its ban on iPhones, a problem only Apple faces out of the two companies. Microsoft is also more popular among cloud computing and artificial intelligence investors.

EU high-speed internet: Commission, Parliament press states for bolder decision. On the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA), an EU legislative proposal that aims to provide every European household with gigabit and 5G connectivity by 2030, European Commission and Parliament representatives shared similar positions on harmonisation rules, such as the tacit approval of permit granting and fibre rollout, putting pressure on member states to come closer to their viewpoints a debate this week revealed. “What is absolutely essential in this proposal to work is to have short deadlines, keep the tacit approval,” Kamila Kloc told an event organised by Euractiv. Kloc, the Director of the Digital Decade and Connectivity Department at the Commission, also said that regarding in-house wiring, the Commission “stayed quite firm that it is the best future-proof solution”. Alin Mituța, an EU lawmaker and Parliament’s rapporteur for the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, explained that this “tacit approval” principle for permit-granting procedures regarding telecom infrastructures was supported by the Parliament and the Commission. Read more.

The Chips Act takes effect. On Thursday, the European Chips Act, which ensures the EU’s security for the supply of critical raw materials in the semiconductor industry, entered into force. The Act also targets bringing 20% of global semiconductor production back to Europe by strengthening research, production and innovation capacities. The Chips Act consists of three pillars: an initiative that supports the EU’s tech leadership with €3.3 billion of EU funds, public and private investments in manufacturing facilities, and a coordination mechanism across EU states. Bernhard Dachs, a researcher at the Austrian Institute of Technology, told Euractiv that while the Act improved in several ways, he still believes that it will have negative impacts “in particular for the single market if member states are free again now to attract foreign investment with very large sums.”

Gigabit, we vote in favour. On Tuesday, the Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy committee voted by a large majority favourably for the compromised text of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act that Euractiv analysed last week. Rapporteur of the text Alin Mituța shared in a thread on X the main points that were most important in his view, reportedly quoting the abolition of extra fees for intra-EU calls. Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), welcomed the vote, saying about the abolition that “this is a terrific development which is long overdue” in the EU. The Council of the EU will still have to be convinced during trilogues, as they repeatedly opposed abolishing fees in the past.

GIA ft. German angst. According to the German Broadband Association BREKO, the current version of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) would undermine the fibre roll-out targets of the Bundesrepublik as it would set favourable incentives for strategic duplication of fibre networks. Under these circumstances, the German association “calls on the MEPs in ITRE and on the German government to reject the current draft.” Under the GIA virtual bitstream access (BSA), a key open access in the German market that allows for shared use of physical infrastructures would become unavailable. “In its current version, the GIA incentivises the economically absurd duplication of fibre networks, which would destroy the business case for many regional fibre roll-out projects,” commented Dr Stephan Albers, BREKO Managing Director.

German 5G disunity: to be continued. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) is against using Chinese providers, like ZTE or Huawei, for 5G network security. It plans to oblige mobile phone providers to massively reduce Chinese products in access networks and in politically explosive regions such as Berlin and Bonn, even to end it altogether. On the other side of the spectrum sits the Digital Ministry (BMDV), calling for nationwide coverage. The BMDV argues that ensuring nationwide coverage with stable, fast and affordable mobile internet must be considered. The concern is that network operators lose control over their own network, losing their independence.

English is the global language. Last week, Max Schrems, Austrian lawyer and co-founder of the digital rights NGO NOYB, struck down the first and second attempt for a transatlantic data transfer backed by French lawmaker Philippe Latombe lawsuits to derail the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. This week, he criticised that the Framework was only published in English in the Official Journal of the EU, tweeting, “Kind amazing: According to Article 297 TFEU the @EU_Justice would have had to publish the new ‘Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework’ (#TADPF) in the Official Journal of the EU in all languages — but was only published on the Commission website in English.”

America first. Ahead of the EU, the US state of California is introducing an ambitious law for a “right to repair.” On Tuesday, the US state parliament passed a law ensuring the availability of spare parts for electronic devices such as iPhones for at least seven years. With this move, California is the third US state, following New York and Minnesota, to make spare parts compulsory.

Théophane Hartmann contributed to the reporting.

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