Consumer/Entertainment/Interview/ Big tech needs bigger regulation, France’s Cedric O says Big tech companies need to be more heavily regulated, but Europe will make its own decisions, including on TikTok, France’s secretary of state tells Sifted. By Marie Mawad in Paris 27 October 2020 \Consumer How to invest in console and PC video games By Tim Smith and Simon Dumont 24 December 2021 Consumer/Entertainment/Interview/ Big tech needs bigger regulation, France’s Cedric O says Big tech companies need to be more heavily regulated, but Europe will make its own decisions, including on TikTok, France’s secretary of state tells Sifted. By Marie Mawad in Paris 27 October 2020 Big technology companies should be regulated more heavily as their footprints grow, France’s junior minister for digital affairs, Cedric O, tells Sifted in an exclusive interview. But Europe is going its own way on decisions, including whether or not to ban TikTok, says O. Technology giants from Silicon Valley to China have come under increasing regulatory fire in recent years, culminating in recent moves by Donald Trump’s administration in the US to ban China-owned short video platform TikTok. European governments, and the European Commission, are paying close attention to these international tussles, and have imposed their own set of restrictions for some technology, including 5G telecoms equipment. “The US are making their decisions, and we’re making ours,” says O. “To be straightforward, there are areas such as 5G, in which there are strategic and sovereign issues,” says O. “I’m not completely sure that there’s a sovereign issue regarding TikTok, at least not so far.” That doesn’t mean Europe isn’t standing ready to defend its interests on a variety of topics, including how data from European users is collected and what’s done with it. The adoption of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May 2018 after years of negotiation between member states, is one example. “Europe, and France especially, has to defend its sovereignty, but there should be a rational estimation of sovereignty risks,” says O. “As long as international investors respect regulatory frameworks and French law, they’re welcome in France.” Marie Mawad is Sifted’s French correspondent. She also covers AI, and tweets from @Marie_a_Paris Related Articles Smitten romances Gen Z with a new twist on dating apps By Sifted reporters Click here to read more Member Online events startup Hopin hits $2.1bn valuation just 8 months after launch By Amy Lewin Click here to read more How influencer Marco Nardone burnt through €19m on three apps in three years By Sam Shead Click here to read more Teen social app Yubo raises €40m By Marie Mawad in Paris Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Startup Life Where are Europe’s top digital nomad villages? 2 \Public & Academic UCL and Oxford are Europe’s ‘worst universities for spinouts’ 3 \Venture Capital The top early-stage investors in the Netherlands 4 \Fintech Payment flows API startup Formance raises $3.1m pre-seed 5 \Venture Capital Top early-stage investors in the Nordics Join the conversation Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments
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