EU to probe popular US sites over data use and search

Brussels is to take the first step toward tighter EU regulation of the internet after coming under pressure from France and Germany to take a tougher line on the likes of Amazon and Google.

Widening its battle against US tech giants after its landmark competition case against Google, the European Commision will launch a separate probe into how online platforms list search results and how they use customer data.

It is one of the proposals in a draft plan for a "digital single market" encompassing everything from online shopping to telecoms regulation. The draft, seen by the FT, will go to the commission for approval next week.

The plan could also bring in stricter rules for online video-on-demand services such as Netflix and messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Skype that have become big rivals to traditional European media and telecoms companies.

The EU's intensifying assault on big tech groups, many of which are American, has triggered mounting criticism in the US, including by President Barack Obama, of European protectionism.

The plan for a "comprehensive assessment" of online platforms comes after French and German ministers urged the EU to launch an investigation into the role played by the US internet giants.

Earlier this week, the French economic minister Emmanuel Macron and German economic minister Sigmar Gabriel called for a "general regulatory framework for 'essential digital platforms'" in a letter to the commissioner overseeing the reforms.

They wrote: "We believe that the growing power of some digital platforms is a wider challenge that warrants a policy consultation with the aim of establishing an appropriate general regulatory framework for 'essential digital platforms'."

The commission will start the probe "before the end of 2015", according to the draft. It will look at the role of paid-for links and advertisements in search results, along with the ability of individuals and businesses to move from platform to platform.

Elsewhere in the draft, the commission said that it will "review" whether on-demand services such as Netflix should be subject to the same rules as traditional TV broadcasters. According to the document, on-demand services are sometimes "subject to lower obligations" than their television peers.

Earlier this year, US President Barack Obama accused EU regulators of protectionism over the way they were handling cases against Silicon Valley giants such as Google. <

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Other measures to be proposed include plans to make it easier for small merchants in the EU to sell goods to customers in other countries. As part of the measures, ecommerce groups would be subject to their own national laws rather than the buyer's as well as a set of EU-wide contractual rights. The commission will also crackdown on the opaque pricing structures used by parcel companies for deliveries between EU countries.

The commission said it would launch long-awaited copyright reform before the end of this year, which will probably spark a tussle between large media groups, artists and producers as well as consumer groups.

Brussels will aim to introduce the "full portability of legally acquired content" and allow "cross border access to legally purchased online services". A crackdown on online piracy will focus on "commercial scale infringements", rather than individual abuses.

Finally, the commission will launch another attempt to reform telecoms regulation in the EU, to apply the same rules for traditional telecoms groups and internet rivals such as WhatsApp and Skype.

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