Europe

From Resistance to Strategy: What the EU’s Digital Acts Mean for the Work I Do

As I’ve made peace with regulation, I’ve noticed some signposts—practical cues for navigating strategy in this new digital terrain.

Rob Hoeijmakers

09 Jun 2025 • 4 min read

The Internet I Grew Up With

I’ve been working in the digital domain for over three decades. I remember when the internet felt like a boundless frontier—free, decentralised, full of promise. The tools were ours. The pace was ours. And the experiments? Limitless. But over time, that open web began to show its cracks: manipulation, polarisation, surveillance, and monopoly power. The last decade made the risks impossible to ignore.

For a long time, I resisted regulation. It felt like a wet blanket over innovation. I saw the European Union’s growing body of laws as either too abstract or too heavy-handed. Were these acts meant to protect us, or just slow everyone down?

That view has changed.

A Turning Point

What helped me shift wasn’t just reading the acts—it was engaging with them. Checking EU tenders, reading portals, exploring regulations from the inside out. The more I explored, the more tangible it became.

Yes, the EU can feel bureaucratic and distant. But a friend said something that reframed everything: “The EU is countries choosing to cooperate.”

That landed. It gave me a new way to see this vast regulatory effort. Not as a blocker, but as a framework. Not flawless, but strategic. Designed, ultimately, to create fairer and more sustainable digital ecosystems—for citizens, workers, startups, and those of us who build digital tools and strategies.

What the EU Is Actually Doing

To global readers: Europe is no longer just a consumer of digital platforms—it’s trying to shape them. Through a cascade of interlocking regulations, the EU is now actively defining rules of the road for data, platforms, AI, identity and infrastructure. And it’s doing so with one foot in ethics and the other in competition strategy.

Let’s break it down:

Data & Infrastructure

Data Governance Act (2022): Facilitates cross-sector data sharing via neutral intermediaries.
Data Act (2023, in force 2025): Defines access rights to data generated by connected devices (IoT), especially between businesses.

Platforms & Market Fairness

Digital Services Act (2024): Requires transparency and accountability from platforms, especially very large ones (VLOPs).
Digital Markets Act (2024): Targets gatekeeper platforms (think Apple, Meta, Google), banning self-preferencing and mandating interoperability.

Artificial Intelligence

AI Act (2024): The world’s first horizontal AI law. Classifies AI systems by risk, bans certain uses (like mass surveillance), and mandates transparency.

Identity & Trust

eIDAS 2.0 (2024): Introduces the EU Digital Identity Wallet. Think verified credentials for individuals and companies, usable across borders.

Cybersecurity & Resilience

NIS2 Directive (2024) and Cyber Resilience Act (2024): Extend security obligations to software providers and digital infrastructure.

Why It Matters to My Work

Working in the fields of AI, automation, and digital experience design, I began to notice how these laws touch real, everyday decisions.

The AI Act makes me design for explainability. When building chatbots, I now consider how to communicate purpose, logic and limits to users.
The Data Act challenges assumptions about ownership in IoT and client-side integrations. Data access becomes part of the UX.
The DSA has already influenced how I think about transparency in WhatsApp bots and campaign automations.
eIDAS 2.0 signals a shift toward verifiable identity workflows, especially in onboarding, consent, and user authentication.

My work with Schmuki, a Dutch digital and AI agency, has given me a close-up view of how these changes affect both strategic choices and technical design. The regulatory space isn’t background noise—it’s a real part of the architecture.

Strategic Takeaways

These aren’t rules carved in stone, but patterns I’ve started to notice—signals that shape how I approach digital strategy and product design in light of the EU's evolving regulatory framework.

Transparency is no longer optional

From algorithmic explanations to clear data flows, being open is a value and a requirement.

Openness will outperform lock-in

Platforms and services that embrace interoperability will have an edge, legally and commercially.

Design for the future, not just the launch

Lifecycle thinking (security, updates, data rights) is now part of product strategy, not just IT.

A Personal Note

For years, I resisted the rulebook. I loved the chaos of newness, the joy of invention. But as the stakes grew, so did the need to understand where things were heading.

The EU’s digital acts aren’t perfect, but they signal an intention to do things differently—to bring structure where there was fragmentation. It doesn’t always feel smooth, and sometimes it’s a lot to take in. But it’s part of the environment now, and working with it is proving more productive than pushing back.

Everyone will find their own rhythm with these changes. I’m just sharing where I am with it. If anything here sounds familiar, or completely foreign, I’d be curious to hear how you're seeing it.

This space is still shifting.