European Commission accused of ‘massive rollback’ of digital protections

Valdis Dombrovski, the EU’s economy commissioner, told a press conference that Europe had not so far ‘reaped the full benefits of the digital revolution’. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The European Commission has been accused of “a massive rollback” of the EU’s digital rules after announcing proposals to delay central parts of the Artificial Intelligence Act and water down its landmark data protection regulation.

If agreed, the changes would make it easier for tech firms to use personal data to train AI models without asking for consent, and try to end “cookie banner fatigue” by reducing the number times internet users have to give their permission to being tracked on the internet.