U.S. and other major tech platforms that treat their own services more favorably, at the expense of rivals, could be forced to sell businesses and pay billion-dollar fines under strict rules unveiled by the European Union.
Under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, companies deemed to be so-called “gatekeepers” won’t be allowed to rank their offerings above rivals on their own platforms, or use competitors’ data to compete with them, according to the proposed regulation released on Tuesday.
Companies like Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc.’s Google could face fines of as much as 10% of their revenue if they don’t comply, while a company that has repeatedly breached the rules could face orders to divest businesses, confirming a Bloomberg report on Monday. Gatekeepers will also need to inform regulators about smaller acquisitions that would otherwise fall below traditional merger-review thresholds.
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-15/tech-giants-risk-breakup-under-strict-eu-digital-rules
The U.S. needs to do more on the antitrust front too.
h/t GR