A New Business Model for the Internet: How a Strong Digital Markets Act Can Enable SMEs to Deliver a Better Internet

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) holds the potential to restore the competitiveness of the platform market needed to untether the European internet industry. Moving away from walled gardens by addressing issues such as limitations to interoperability and anticompetitive default settings is what is needed to help the European internet industry scale, allowing for different, user-centric business models that respect European values to thrive. Getting the DMA right is paramount for both the fair competition in the markets and the EU’s sovereignty.

The European internet ecosystem is characterised by a multitude of challengers, rather than incumbents. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as start-ups make up the company landscape. Within this ecosystem, however, lies the potential to provide an user-centric internet at scale. In a market where platforms compete on the merits of their services, society, not just the market incumbents, benefit from the network effects. 

The DMA, if policymakers get it right, will play an important role in creating the conditions for an interoperable and user-friendly platform ecosystem to grow. A competitive digital market is one where European innovative companies, in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets, can challenge the incumbents without artificial impediments such as selective interoperability and default settings.

At this event, senior executives from Open-Xchange, ProtonMail and Element will make the case for a strong and well-enforced DMA, and outlining how the EU internet industry can capitalise on the possibilities and opportunities that would follow.