- Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and European Commissioner for Competition, will meet the chief executives of Apple, Alphabet, and Nvidia, among others, in the US next week.
- EC is adopting tougher market restraints to protect European users online and to encourage competition in the tech industry. US tech titans need to make full preparations.
The EU is adopting stricter market restraints to safeguard European users and promote tech competition. EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager plans talks with big tech CEOs, urging US tech firms to prepare for tighter regulations. Focusing on transparency and collaboration with regulators is essential.
US tech titans faced with tightened regulations
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager plans to travel to the US next week to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and its chief legal officer Kent Walker, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to discuss European digital regulation and competition policy, according to her adviser Christina Holm Eiberg.
The meeting with Cook comes after the iPhone maker last year offered to give rivals access to its tap-and-go mobile payments systems for mobile wallets in order to settle Vestager’s investigation and stave off a potential hefty fine.
Besides, meetings are scheduled with OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and chief strategy officer Jason Kwon.
Antitrust experts expect Vestager to show a tougher line towards companies in both merger and competition investigations.
EC trying to create a safer and fairer market
EC requested Apple and Google provide more details on transparency-related practices under the Digital Services Act (DSA), giving the companies a month to respond by January 8 after it named the companies as providers of large online platforms alongside Amazon and Meta Platforms last April.
The EU has already revealed last September that the world’s tech behemoths would face stronger curbs from 2024 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that will shake up how major players like Apple and Meta do business online.
US tech giants must brace for heightened regulations as Vestager signals a tougher stance in both merger and competition investigations. The big players can prepare for EU regulations by enhancing transparency, collaborating with regulators, and adapting business strategies to comply effectively.
