The EU has recently proposed a new law to increase competition in cyberspace. Called the "Digital Markets Act" or "DMA", it applies to the world’s largest tech companies providing what are called "core platform services", such as social networks and search engines. Companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and even that darling of Europe, Spotify.

While the EU has pretty strict privacy laws, their enforcement and fines have been pretty toothless. In many cases companies like Facebook have simply paid the fines with money they've found under their lunchroom couch cushions and just carried on.

This new law proposes sanctions that are far more painful. Fines as high as 10% of global annual sales, or even 20% for repeat offenders.

The DMA sounds great on paper but could it actually pass, or even impact Internet users in North America? The DMA is a big deal, and The Decentralists explain why in this episode.

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