European Commission Chooses to Keep EU Users Locked Up Behind Big Tech’s Gates
The European Commission has declined to require interoperability between major social networking platforms for EU users, a decision that critics argue keeps people locked into dominant platforms even when they would prefer alternatives with stronger privacy protections.
Why this matters: Interoperability is simple in practice: you leave a platform but still talk to the people who stayed. Without it, your social network becomes a trap. Switching to a smaller, more privacy-friendly app means losing access to your contacts. That gives the big platforms a structural advantage that has nothing to do with being better. The Commission had regulatory tools to change this. Choosing not to use them is a decision that benefits the platforms holding the most data about the most people.
Who should care: General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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