The EU is ready to set new Rules to curb the Power of U.S. Tech Giants and Gatekeepers like Apple, Google & Others
2020 has certainly been the year of scrutinizing the behavior of Silicon Valley companies. In July Patently Apple posted a report covering the antitrust hearing that grilled Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon on their Monopolistic Behavior. In October we posted a report titled "Japan is set to Work with the EU and U.S. on Investigating Monopolistic Activities by Google, Apple, Facebook & Amazon going forward."
Today Reuters is reporting that the EU is ready to drop the hammer on Silicon Valley's elite tech companies: "Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet unit Google may have to change their business practices in Europe or face hefty fines between 6-10% under new draft EU rules to be announced later today.
The rules are the most serious attempt by the 27-country bloc to rein in the power of the U.S. tech giants which control troves of data and online platforms on which thousands of companies and millions of Europeans rely on.
They also mark the European Commission’s frustration with its antitrust cases against the tech giants, notably Google, which critics say did not address the problem.
Regulatory scrutiny has been growing worldwide of tech giants and their power.
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton will present the rules, a bid not just to rein in tech giants but also to prevent the emergence of anti-competitive dominant companies.
One set of rules called the Digital Markets Act calls for fines up to 10% of annual turnover for online gatekeepers found breaching the new rules, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It also sets out a list of dos and don’ts for gatekeepers, which will be classified according to criteria such as number of users, revenues and the number of markets in which they are active, other sources said. For more, read the full Reuters report.
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