- The GDPR, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the EU AI Act are examples of digital regulation.
What does digital regulation consist of?
Digital regulation refers to the set of rules and laws that control activities carried out on the Internet and/or related to new technologies.
Its purpose is not only to protect users, but also to guarantee fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of expression, combat illegal content and misinformation, and promote fair competition.
What are the main objectives of digital regulation?
As mentioned above, digital regulation, as its name suggests, regulates aspects related to the digital world.
The objectives of this type of regulation are to ensure that the promotion of technological innovation does not violate fundamental rights, to guarantee that the digital environment is safe, fair and accessible to all users, and to advance the creation of a common global framework for addressing technological challenges on an international scale.
What are the main issues addressed by digital regulation?
Focusing on European digital regulation, we can find examples in certain specific areas.
Data protection and privacy
The General Data Protection Regulation (often referred to simply as GDPR) is the European regulation that establishes the framework for data protection by promoting security and trust in the digital environment.
In force since May 2018, replacing previous national regulations, it seeks to unify privacy regulations in the EU, not only to protect the data of individuals, but also to give them greater control over it.
This regulation grants rights such as access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability to citizens.
Digital services
The Digital Services Act is a European regulation that regulates online intermediaries with the aim of creating a fair and secure digital environment that protects users from misleading advertising or illegal or illicit content.
Its main objectives include transparency (by requiring platforms to be transparent on issues such as advertising, recommendations or content moderation) and accountability (by making platforms accountable for the content they publish).
As stated on the European Union’s website, “the Digital Services Act introduces rules for online services used by European citizens in their daily lives. These services include marketplaces, social networks, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms.‘
Digital competition
This Digital Services Act is complemented by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a regulation whose objective is to ’ensure a competitive and fair digital sector that allows innovative digital companies to grow and guarantees user safety.”
To this end, large technology platforms (known as ‘gatekeepers’) are regulated to prevent abuse of power, encourage innovation, provide consumers with more choice and protect privacy.
Artificial Intelligence
The AI Act (also known by its English name, AI Act) was the first comprehensive law on this subject in the world.
This legal framework establishes systems according to their level of risk, classifying them as unacceptable, high, limited and minimal with the aim of ensuring that they are ethical, safe and reliable.
In accordance with this classification, it prohibits unacceptable uses and establishes strict rules for high-risk applications, seeking both to protect fundamental rights and to promote responsible innovation.
Pro-investment regulatory framework
Telefónica advocates a pro-investment regulatory framework and considers that the current regulatory framework for electronic communications, despite having been successful in the early stages of market liberalisation, has become obsolete in the last decade in the face of the structural and economic challenges facing the sector.
As a result, Europe’s digital connectivity infrastructure is lagging behind other developed economies in terms of the availability of the latest technologies, while facing both growing global competition and large investment deficits.
In order to address this loss of competitiveness, the company believes that the regulatory framework for digital communications infrastructure and services needs to be rethought.
Similarly, Telefónica maintains that the priorities of the European Commission – one of the main institutions of the EU – should be based on competitiveness, regulatory simplification, fair and balanced relationships in the Internet ecosystem, and the harmonisation/completion of the digital single market.







