Fines of up to 6% of turnover for platforms that violate digital law

The Government continues, step by step, to implement in legislative initiatives the action plan for democracy with which Pedro Sánchez wanted to confront the "mud machine" that he attributed to the PP and Vox in order to try to overthrow him, by deciding to stay in office after the five days of reflection he took in April of last year in the face of the judicial investigation opened against his own wife for alleged crimes of corruption reported by far-right organizations.

The Council of Ministers approved yesterday, in the first round, the draft law for the improvement of democratic governance in digital services and media, which will adapt Spanish regulations to European legislation. The Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, argued that the objective of the initiative is to “reinforce” one of the fundamental rights of the Constitution, specifically the one that guarantees the free expression and dissemination of ideas and opinions, but also the right to communicate and receive “truthful information”.

The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) will be in charge of imposing sanctions

The main novelty of the initiative, which will now be evaluated by the State's advisory bodies before returning to the Council of Ministers for approval in the second round and transfer to Congress, is that it attributes to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) the powers of control, supervision, inspection and sanction over digital platforms.

This autonomous body will also be strengthened to take on this monitoring task and ensure compliance with future Spanish regulations, which will require, for example, that providers have a channel for users to report illegal content or transparency regarding the algorithm's recommendation criteria and the advertising present on their platforms.

Government sources explain to La Vanguardia that, under the supervision of the European Commission, the scale of fines established by the European regulation on digital services for large transnational platforms with more than 45 million users ranges from 2% of their turnover for minor breaches, to 4% for serious breaches and 6% for very serious breaches.

The new Spanish law will apply to digital platforms or search engines based in Spain, which have fewer than 45 million users. Fines will be similar to those of the European regulation, i.e. 2% of their turnover for minor breaches of the law, 4% for serious breaches and up to 6% for very serious breaches. In the case of Spain, these fines would therefore be imposed by the CNMC.

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In addition to the European regulation on digital services, the draft law will also adapt the European regulation on freedom of the media to Spanish law. And, in this sense, a state registry of conventional media will be established, which will also depend on the CNMC, and which, as required by the European regulation, will have to prove the ownership of these media – to avoid their concentration and guarantee pluralism –, their sources of financing and the institutional advertising they receive. “Absolute transparency,” argued Óscar López. The media will also have to keep this information up to date in the CNMC registry.

The future regulation, the minister said, “reinforces the rights of all citizens, and even more so in a context like the current one, where we have seen setbacks, for example, in the verification system, in social networks and the media.” And he warned that the European regulations and the upcoming Spanish law are “a great shield that protects us all and our digital rights.”