EU may be reassessing billion-dollar Big Tech fines as it waits for Trump
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The EU has reportedly paused its probes into Big Tech issues such as Apple's App Store rules. All the impending EU fines and rulings against Apple, Google, and Meta, are reportedly off the table as Europe awaits Trump — and reveals just how political its regulations are.
For ten years, the European Union and especially competition chief Margrethe Vestager, has been working to control Big Tech. It's done so mostly very successfully, with the region being the first to implement a Digital Markets Act (DMA) that laid out conditions — and especially potential fines for transgressions.
Now according to the Financial Times, however, all of the regulator's plans for fines are on hold. Only what is described as technical work will continue on any of the Big Tech investigations, and for the moment there will be no fines. It's because the main EU chiefs responsible have reached their term limits and are leaving. And it's surely because the incoming Trump Administration in the US is expected to listen to Big Tech lobbyists and push back against regulation.
"It's going to be a whole new ballgame with these tech oligarchs so close to Trump and using that to pressurise us," an unnamed senior EU diplomat said. "So much is up in the air right now.". Reportedly, two further EU officials said that regulators in Brussels were now waiting for political direction. Until they get that guidance, they will not be making their final decisions on cases such as those against Apple, Google, and Meta.
