Taking on Big Tech: Can the EU really ‘open the black box of algorithms’ and what it means for you

It is hoped the EU’s Digital Services Act will become the global gold standard for regulating Big Tech but there are a number of concerns about how effective it will be in practice

Taking a stand: an Avaaz activist at an anti-Facebook demonstration with cardboard cutouts of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg in front of the EU Commission headquarters. Picture: Getty

Last November, as discussions about the EU’s efforts to regulate Big Tech with landmark new proposals were heating up, a policy adviser in Brussels noticed he was seeing more posts on Twitter pushing back against a proposed ban on targeted ads.

Alderik Oosthoek, an adviser to Paul Tang, a Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats MEP, did some digging and found that he was being targeted on Twitter by Amazon because he followed policy journalists ...