EU Warns Big Tech from Innovation Policy

EU threatened on Tuesday the Big Tech companies if they repeatedly engage in anti-competitive behavior. Meanwhile, the European Commission released a set of draft policies that would force companies to change their business practices. It amounts to the most aggressive legislative effort to rein in companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook to date, according to industry experts.

On other hand, the draft of the Digital Markets Act  states that big tech companies that are fined three times within five years will be labeled as repeat offenders, and the European United will move to structurally separate their businesses, according to news reports.

Moreover, Thierry Breton the the EU’s commissioner for the internal market who is co-leading the overhaul of the digital rules said in September, that there is a feeling from end users of these platforms that they are too big to care.” Also, Margrethe Vestager the EU’s executive vice-president in charge of competition and digital policy expressed her frustration of how antitrust probes have not tamed Big Tech.

In contrast, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, another European lawmaker who has played a prominent role in competition policy discussions, noted: “I expect platforms to try to pide the EP around fake and simple debates such as being pro versus anti freedom of speech or pro and versus anti innovation.”

Noteworthy, EU officials reported that a company’s market cap was an important metric since it determined a company’s ability to raise money quickly to acquire potential rivals.