The EU Court of Justice has ruled that Google, Meta and TikTok, which all have their European headquarters in Ireland, cannot have additional obligations imposed on them by other member states.
The companies are subject to Irish laws and regulations because they are based here but in 2021, Austria introduced a law requiring domestic and foreign providers of communication platforms to set up mechanisms for reporting and verifying potentially illegal content.
The ECJ has ruled however that such a national approach is contrary to EU law, which ensures the free movement of information society services through the principle of control in the Member State of origin of the service concerned.
"If the member state of destination (in this case, Austria) were authorised to adopt such measures, this would encroach on the regulatory powers of the home member state (in this case, Ireland)," the court ruled.
"Furthermore, it would undermine mutual trust between member states and contravene the principle of mutual recognition."
"In addition, the platforms concerned would be subject to different laws, which would also infringe the freedom to provide services and therefore the proper functioning of the internal market," the court found.
