BERLIN: Margrethe Vestager, the European Union competitive executioner who has been the world’s most ardent critic of the tech sector, just walked into her Brussels office to consider what to do with the items she had accumulated over her ten years in that capacity, which ends later this month. She once made a momentary pause before moving a monument up its end hand.
” What if I do with this”? Vestager, 56, asked. The thick hand, she has said, was a warning not to let critics getting you down.
Vestager, a Danish politician who was the unique EU established to be known globally, has faced lots of critics over the years. One of the first government officials to vigorously prosecute Google, Apple, and Amazon for engaging in illegal enterprise techniques and attempting to stifle competition when she was appointed to lead antitrust enforcement in 2014 was Kate McFarlane.
The US online titan were rapidly expanding and well-known for their inventions at the time. Vestager faced criticism for her actions, with technology leaders accusing her of stifling Europe’s market by excluding startups from the area.
But as Vestager closes over her period in Brussels, regulating the technology industry has become more popular. Europe is then widely recognized as the author of the toughest rules against technology thanks to her. In recent years, US officials have filed competitive complaints against Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon in parallel with Europe. Officials in South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere are also taking on the software companies. Vestager expressed her joy when the EU’s highest court unexpectedly triumphed in an ongoing tax-avoidance event against Apple in August.” It is very satisfying,” she said. ” Citizens thought that we were mad because 10 years ago, Big Tech was unassailable”.
Yet in Washington, Vestager has gone from pariah to leader. When she made her last appearance at the US justice ministry in September, there were standing ovations and loud speakers inside the place where she was addressing her colleagues.
Vestager is currently preparing to start a position at a Danish school. Teresa Ribera Rodriguez, a Spanish standard, may take over as the EU leading antitrust regulator on Dec 1.
Vestager claimed that the Digital Services Act, a new European law, gave EU officials crucial new authority to regulate social media platforms. She claimed that online companies were not always aware of the differences between European and American laws regarding what constitutes unlawful speech, including racism, antisemitism, and extremist content. ” If a program is used to destroy politics, well, then obviously it is not in conformity with the Digital Services Act”, she said. She said the new law was needed to take on companies, including X and Telegram, that did n’t do enough to police their platforms for harmful and illicit material. nyt
