Policy 20: Work with startups to shape tech regulation that promotes competition, not stifles it
In collaboration with The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), we have produced a manifesto to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business. It features 21 policies across three key policy areas: access to talent, access to investment, and regulation. We’re sharing the policies on our blog. To read the full manifesto, click here.
Further regulation of internet platforms now seems inevitable. But as the Government themselves have admitted, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all framework for tackling the challenges that have risen along with tech platforms (though that doesn’t stop them seeking one…).
One thing is clear: there is a real risk of poorly designed regulation hitting startups harder than the tech giants that the government is aiming at. Where European watchdogs thought that regulation would balance the market, it has actually tilted it further towards the tech giants. Investors agree: 86 per cent of UK investors surveyed worry that policies aimed at tech giants could hit startups harder than their intended targets.
Startups have already struggled under the weight of legislation such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, and are likely to see it again with the recently passed Copyright Directive. The UK’s dozens of committee reports, draft frameworks, working groups, and proposed legislation muddy the waters even further. So whether it’s the domestic Online Harms framework’s proposals on subjective harms, the Digital Charter’s multiple areas of focus, or the EU’s review of intermediary liability provisions in the forthcoming Digital Services Act, the next government needs to be mindful of the impact that sweeping regulation can have on startups.
That’s also why it’s so important for the next government to take heed of the Furman Review’s findings into digital competition on regulation - and that it doesn’t just cherry-pick the bits it likes. Professor Furman and the panel warned that regulations could “cut across each other if taken forward in isolation”, and that government “should ensure that pro-competition aims and functions are aligned with others, and that the regulatory landscape for digital businesses is kept simple”.
Now the tide of public perception is turning against the tech giants, they are building a regulatory moat to protect their interests - because they are large and profitable enough to do so. The next government should not inadvertently help them by drafting punitive regulation which can only miss its target.