Amazon argues it's lived 'singled out' by the EU's digital content controls

July 12, 2023: Amazon opposes its inclusion in the European Union’s inventory of companies subject to milestone online content controls, keeping the first U.S. challenge to the suggested legislation.

On Tuesday, the e-retailer filed a petition in Luxembourg’s General Court arguing it should not be designated as one of the 17 “huge online platforms,” or VLOPs, under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes stricter rules around policing illegal material on their platforms. Fellow U.S. tech giants Google, Meta, and Apple are also subject to the rules.

Amazon disputed it being labeled a VLOP under the act, saying the designation applies to companies with advertising as their primary revenue and that distributes speech and information.

“The vast majority of our earnings come from our retail business, we are not the largest retailer in any of the EU countries where we operate, and none of these biggest retailers in each European country has been designated as a VLOP,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

“If the VLOP designation were to be applied to Amazon and not to other large retailers across the EU, Amazon would be unfairly singled out and forced to meet onerous administrative duties that don’t benefit EU consumers.”

A representative for the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, declined to comment.

The DSA, implemented in the previous November, requires companies with over 45 million monthly active users to yield rules around policing hate speech, disinformation, and counterfeits on their platforms. They must submit risk assessments, and conduct external and independent auditing, among other compliance measures, or they risk facing fines of nearly 6% of their annual revenue.

Last month, German online fashion and lifestyle retailer Zalando filed a suit contesting its designation as a VLOP, arguing that retail constitutes its business.