European Knight
04-05-2015, 08:33 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/technology/europe-regulators-apple-google-facebook.html?
LONDON — It is not a good week to be a giant American tech company in Europe.
The European antitrust investigation into Google appears to be heating up. More European countries are looking into Facebook’s privacy settings.
And Apple, which already is under scrutiny for its low corporate tax arrangements in Ireland, is now facing potential antitrust questions from the European Commission about the company’s new music streaming service expected this year.
The new developments offer the latest and perhaps clearest sign yet that American tech giants face intensifying scrutiny in Europe — pressure that could potentially curb their sizable profits in the region and affect how they operate around the world.
It is unclear what exactly set off the recent flurry of moves. But many local lawmakers have long been wary of the dominance of American tech companies, and those politicians have become increasingly outspoken about how the companies have used their financial deep pockets and ability to innovate quickly to outmuscle European rivals.
“It’s no wonder Europe is going after these companies,” said Luca Schiavoni, a regulatory analyst at the technology research company Ovum in London. “They are the biggest fish in the pond and have become very powerful. That inevitably means regulators are going to get involved.”
Europe’s willingness to police tech companies’ activities contrasts with a relatively hands-off approach favored by United States authorities, which have so far refrained from widespread antitrust lawsuits and privacy investigations into how tech companies use people’s online data.
In recent years, however, American tech companies have become the central target for Europe’s antitrust officials. Advocates say this approach is aimed at limiting the dominance of a small number of companies, though industry executives say Europe is using the investigations to promote the region’s own tech companies, which often have been unable to compete with their United States rivals.
LONDON — It is not a good week to be a giant American tech company in Europe.
The European antitrust investigation into Google appears to be heating up. More European countries are looking into Facebook’s privacy settings.
And Apple, which already is under scrutiny for its low corporate tax arrangements in Ireland, is now facing potential antitrust questions from the European Commission about the company’s new music streaming service expected this year.
The new developments offer the latest and perhaps clearest sign yet that American tech giants face intensifying scrutiny in Europe — pressure that could potentially curb their sizable profits in the region and affect how they operate around the world.
It is unclear what exactly set off the recent flurry of moves. But many local lawmakers have long been wary of the dominance of American tech companies, and those politicians have become increasingly outspoken about how the companies have used their financial deep pockets and ability to innovate quickly to outmuscle European rivals.
“It’s no wonder Europe is going after these companies,” said Luca Schiavoni, a regulatory analyst at the technology research company Ovum in London. “They are the biggest fish in the pond and have become very powerful. That inevitably means regulators are going to get involved.”
Europe’s willingness to police tech companies’ activities contrasts with a relatively hands-off approach favored by United States authorities, which have so far refrained from widespread antitrust lawsuits and privacy investigations into how tech companies use people’s online data.
In recent years, however, American tech companies have become the central target for Europe’s antitrust officials. Advocates say this approach is aimed at limiting the dominance of a small number of companies, though industry executives say Europe is using the investigations to promote the region’s own tech companies, which often have been unable to compete with their United States rivals.