By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – A major European Parliament committee agreed to ban “dark patterns” and targeting minors in advertising. This was part of new regulations aimed at U.S. technology giants. It took a stronger stand which could cause problems during future negotiations with EU members.

Margrethe Vestager of the European Commission, antitrust chief, proposed the Digital Services Act as a major set of rules in an effort to speed up competition investigations. This includes Amazon (NASDAQ), Apple (NASDAQ), Alphabet(NASDAQ:), unit Google, and Facebook (NASDAQ).

It is intended to get the companies to take more action to combat illegal content. For non-compliance, fines up to 6 percent of worldwide turnover may be imposed.

The proposal of Vestager must be resolved with EU governments and EU legislators next year in order to become law.

The EU’s countries agreed last month to adopt a shared position while generally sticking with the Commission’s draft rules.

The position of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee needs to be given green by Parliament in March. It includes a ban for dark patterns, online services that mislead users into providing personal data or tricking them.

A ban on targeting minors with targeted ads was also reached by the committee. There are extensive regulations that require online platforms to make their algorithms more transparent and to adhere to pornography rules.

Christel Schaldemose who has been guiding the DSA through Parliament said that her proposal was also directed at algorithms of platforms.

Schaldemose stated that they are working in the direction of obtaining the algorithms necessary to follow the democratic rules. He said this in an interview with Reuters.

She stated that “We do lots to lower the risk on democracy. We have done many things in order make it safer for consumers.

EU lawmaker DitaCharanzova stated that the draft rules addressed many of Frances Haugen’s concerns.

Online platforms will not only have to take down illegal content but they will also have to evaluate the actual harm that comes from using their services for minors or civil discourse. They must act in an open and transparent manner. They will have to take action, something that has not been required of them,” she said to Reuters.