In its White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) from early 2021, the EU Commission stated the maxim that AI had to be trustworthy. As correct as this diagnosis is, the legal instruments published in April 2021, which the EU Commission relies on in its proposal for a regulation,  are weak. Its proposal only inadequately protects affected consumers: only a few high-risk AI applications shall entail obligations. For everything else, voluntary self-regulation should be sufficient.

With the proposal for a regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the European Commission wants to create a legal framework for the dealing with and using AI systems. Are the proposed regulations sufficient to actually provide adequate protection and transparency and to clarify responsibility issues?

With its Communication on the 2030 Digital Compass, the European Commission has presented the next steps within the scope of one of its key priorities – the digital future of the EU. The Communication addresses a wide range of subjects, starting with education policy via digital infrastructure, business, and data protection aspects up to EU trade policy.

Digital platforms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and others control central areas of the digital economy. Their economic power and their intensive lobbying and PR work provides them with huge political influence, which they also use to avert effective regulation. This concentration of power is a fundamental problem for democracy.

With its Communication on the Digital Compass 2030 the European Commission provides an overview of the next steps it wants to take in the digital sector. This includes plans for education, health and enterprise policy, infrastructure and the public sector. The international dimension of the digital sector and the necessity of digital partnerships are also addressed.

On Tuesday, 9 March 2021, the EU Commission presented its Communication for a digitally empowered Europe. It shall ring in a digital decade and help to implement the EU’s digital agenda targets by 2030.

With the Digital Service Act (DSA) the European Commission aims to foster innovation and competition, to rebalance responsibilities of users, platforms and public authorities and to better protect consumers and their fundamental rights online.

The Data Governance Act is an extremely sensitive project in terms of fundamental rights: This draft will allow the data economy to access protected data, although compliance with a few requirements is stipulated. According to the Austrian Chamber of Labour, consumers, patients and citizens will not be able to trust data transfer readily. While the promotion of innovative data management is very clearly formulated, the accompanying provisions that protect the rights of data subjects are unjustifiably vague.

The Covid-19 crisis not only rendered visible the great importance of the platform economy for the supply of everyday goods. It also revealed the disadvantages of this hyper-flexible form of intermediation and employment, often combined with a precarious working situation. However, given the urgency of a just and fair regulation of platform workers’ working conditions, it has now become abundantly clear – the time is ripe for a Directive on platform work.

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the spotlight on the social significance and economic potential of the platform economy, but it has also highlighted the disadvantages of this hyper-flexible form of intermediation and employment. Despite their promises of autonomy, platform-based modes of organising labour reinforce social inequalities, gender segregation and economic dependencies. They may also lead to precarious working conditions where it is difficult to enforce existing protections under employment and social law.