Europe Is Toughest on Big Tech, Yet Big Tech Still Reigns

There is a lot to learn from mistakes that the Continents regulators have made, say consumer groups, lawyers and rival companies.

His company, Kelkoo, once a leading online shopping destination in Europe, was crushed by Googles competing service while the case was underway.

But Mr. Stables and other veterans of the Continents antitrust battles are telling American authorities, who are investigating Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, something else: There is a lot to learn from Europes mistakes.

Antitrust investigations in Europe have taken years to complete, in part because company lawyers use stalling techniques that give the tech giants added time to squeeze out rivals, according to companies, lawyers and consumer groups involved in the cases against Google.

The inquiries have centered on single aspects of the companies, like Google shopping, rather than their entire business.
And once regulators have stepped in, the penalties have focused on headline-grabbing fines rather than structural changes that would restore competitive balance.

You have to move fast and impose remedies that actually bite, said Thomas Vinje, an antitrust lawyer who represented companies against Google in Europe.

In recent weeks, the authorities in the United States and Europe have signaled that they believe tougher antitrust enforcement is necessary.

It acts like a cease-and-desist order, forcing a company to stop acting a certain way until an antitrust investigation can be completed.

Europe has led the way in realizing that there are potential problems related to digital platforms that can be also dealt with through antitrust enforcement, he said.

Original article