Amazon, Jeff Bezos' online retail giant, which has over 300 million active users and grossed over $500 billion last year, says it does not meet the European Union's definition of a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP).
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The Silicon Valley company is so adamant that it is not a VLOP that it is suing the EU over the issue, making it the first—and likely not the last—American company to challenge the bloc's new digital content rules.
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Amazon was among the first of eighteen companies to be designated as a VLOP in late April under the EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA), which is designed to curb hate speech and disinformation online. The VLOP designation requires companies to do more to tackle illegal online content, undertake risk management, conduct external and independent audits, and share data with authorities and researchers.
All platforms that reach at least 45 million monthly active users are required to comply with the full obligations of the DSA, which goes into effect on August 25. These include Facebook, Twitter, App Store , Google Play, YouTube and German retailer Zalando, among others.
According to Amazon, the Digital Services Act (DSA) was designed to address the systemic risks posed by very large companies that distribute speech and information and rely on advertising as their primary source of revenue. “Amazon does not fit this description of a ‘very large online platform’ under the DSA and should not be classified as such,” it said. The retail giant said its inclusion on the European Union’s “red list” would result in it being “unfairly singled out and forced to respond to burdensome administrative obligations that do not benefit EU consumers.”
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Last month, Germany’s Zalando, Europe’s largest online retailer, became the first company to sue over the name. The company argued that its active European user base was not significant enough to be considered a VLOP. It had long been expected that Silicon Valley groups would also challenge the rules.
Information source: thenextweb.com
